The Songs Start To Make Sense Repost
by You're out of your vulcan mind
Summary: "Sorry, some people think that I should come with a disclaimer. But a sign around my neck would clash with my outfits. So… I'm gay."
1. Chapters 1 through 4

**A/N:** Due to a lot of requests I'm reposting this story. Chapters have been grouped up in fours, sorry if that annoys people. This story was written way back in season 2 when we were just hearing rumors about the existence of Blaine, so a lot of things have changed in the show in terms of character dynamics. Keep that in mind when reading this story. Thanks! I've been stuck on this story for a long time now with no idea where to go with it. Any help will be appreciated and maybe one day I'll finally get this done so please comment and tell me what you think!

**Chapter 1: I come with a disclaimer**

_**Wingardium Leviosa has entered the conversation-**_

_**Lemonhead has entered the conversation-**_

**Wingardium Leviosa- **What's with the name?

**Lemonhead-** A kid at school figured out what I did with my hair.

**Wingardium Leviosa-** lol. Told you it was obvious.

**Lemonhead-** It seemed like a good idea at the time!

**Wingardium Leviosa-** It always does. :-P

**Wingardium Leviosa-** Guess what.

**Lemonhead-** O.o Bad things happen when you say that.

**Wingardium Leviosa- **No they don't.

**Lemonhead-** Last time you said that I ended up going with you to a musical harry potter preformance

**Wingardium Leviosa-** Performance. And that was art. Just because you're to boorish to appreciate it...

**Lemonhead-** Whatever. So what am I supposed to be guessing about? Did they make a sequel?

**Wingardium Leviosa- **They did actually. It's fantastic. It just premiered this summer!

**Lemonhead-** _ Crap.

**Wingardium Leviosa- **Shut up. You liked it. But that wasn't what I was going to tell you.

**Lemonhead-** Alright…

**Wingardium Leviosa-** But you're being mean. I don't think I will tell you now.

**Lemonhead-** Blaine!

**Wingardium Leviosa-** My aunt is moving to Lima next weekend. And guess who got roped into helping her move…

**Lemonhead-** You're coming here? :-D

**Wingardium Leviosa-** Yup. I'm on fall break, I'll be there all week.

**Lemonhead-** That's awesome. There's a kid I really want you to meet.

**Wingardium Leviosa-** O.o…You're not trying to set me up, are you?

**Lemonhead-** No. He's just the only gay kid in the school. I think he's been getting a lot of crap lately and I thought it would help him if he could meet and talk to another, you know, gay kid. I don't think he ever has met someone like him.

**Wingardium Leviosa-**… That's really sweet Sam.

**Wingardium Leviosa- **Why'd you have to be straight? :-(

**Lemonhead-** Blaine, seriously.

**Wingardium Leviosa- **Is he cute?

**Lemonhead-**Idk, I guess?

**Wingardium Leviosa-** Yeah, I'll talk to him.

**Wingardium Leviosa-** Hey, I've got to go. But I'll ttyl?

**Lemonhead-** Sounds good. Bye!

_**ibWingardium Leviosa has left the conversation-**_

_**Lemonhead has left the conversation-/i/b**_

"So this is McKinley High."

Sam shouldered his bag as they started walking across the parking lot.

"I'm half expecting to see a sign across the doors: Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."

Sam rolled his eyes. "It's not that bad."

Blaine eyed the school suspiciously. "Mmhmm."

"It's just really different from what you're used to."

"Thank god I don't have to get used to this."

"C'mon. I've got Glee practice."

"That's the kid, over there." Sam nodded at the smaller boy sitting in the back of the room.

"He is cute."

"Can you just… talk to him? Without scarring him?"

Blaine patted Sam's shoulder "Sure." He walked to the back and sat next to the boy. "I'm Blaine." He offered his hand.

Kurt frowned at him. "I'm gay."

"Wow." Blaine retracted his hand. "You're parents named you that?"

Kurt closed his eyes and sighed. "Sorry, some people think that I should come with a disclaimer. But a sign around my neck would clash with my outfits. So… I'm gay."

"What are you at home?"

"Kurt."

"I can tell."

Kurt rolled his eyes at the pun.

Blaine offered his hand again. "Hi Kurt."

It almost hurt at how surprised Kurt looked at the gesture, but he took Blaine's hand. "Hi."

"I'm a friend of Sam's from his old school."

Kurt nodded and offered him a tight smile. "Well, welcome to McKinley." He turned to the front of the room as Mr. Shue walked in.

"Sam said we should talk." Kurt looked at him wide eyed. "I forgot to offer my disclaimer when I introduced myself."

"You- you're…"

Blaine smiled encouragingly. "Yeah."

"Oh."

"Sam said you were the only out kid in school."

"In this town." Kurt corrected.

"Sam is making cow eyes at that girl."

"Quinn."

"So I figure I'm free for lunch, if there's a place nearby."

Kurt shot a look to where Finn was sitting. The other boy was frowning at their interaction. "I don't think you'd want-"

"It really helps to talk to someone who can actually relate and who actually understands." He saw Kurt looking at Finn and put a hand a on the smaller boy's leg, making him jump. Blaine saw Finn's expression change from disapproving to shock, and the boy blushed red and finally turned away. "How about it?"

Kurt studied him for a moment before offering him a tentative smile, "I think… I think I'd like that."

Mr. Shue was going on about the theme of the week.

This week:

Discovery.

**Chapter 2: The songs start to make sense**

Finn steeled himself. Okay, he can do this. Trademark goofy grin on. And march.

"Hey Kurt." He walked up to Kurt's locker and put his hand on Kurt's shoulder.

Kurt didn't even turn around from his locker. "Don't touch me."

Finn quickly removed his hand. "I-uh I wanted to apologize."

Kurt slammed his locker shut and kept his gaze firmly away from the taller boy. "Oh?"

"For… what I said. And for pushing you to not sing with Sam."

"That was over a week ago." Kurt started walking away, Finn followed.

"Yeah. I probably should have apologized sooner." Kurt snorted. "I wasn't sure what to say."

Kurt stopped and finally made eye contact with Finn. Finn didn't like how cold it was. "Well, thank you for your apology."

Finn awkwardly stuck his hands in his pockets and "So you were talking to that new guy in glee today."

Kurt's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, I was."

"What did he want?"

"Lunch."

"Lunch?"

"He's visiting Sam. So you don't need to worry about his reputation or how it would affect glee. And I told him I was gay right away." Kurt smiled tightly. "I wasn't being creepy and he asked me to go with him. I think that covers all the reasons you told me not to talk to a guy, so I think it's alright I said yes."

"Are you sure you should be going?"

"You don't need to protect him from me." He started walking down the hall again. "He is gay too."

Finn mumbled a curse under his breath and hastily moved so he was blocking Kurt's way.

"He's not the one I'm worried about." Kurt raised an eyebrow so Finn quickly continued. "I kinda figured he was… gay already. But you've never been around someone who was gay too." Kurt didn't look impressed in the direction the conversation was heading. "Look you've never been around someone who could like you back. I'm just worried that if he pushes at all you wouldn't know how to say no."

"I'm sure not all gays are sexual predators like me. I know you have obviously never seen it but some of them do actually know that no means no. We're just going out to talk. I'll be fine."

"I never said you were a sexual-"

"You implied it though." Kurt snapped.

Finn ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I know what I said was wrong and I handled things badly, but you have to admit I had a point."

"Dad agreed with you. So I suppose you did. I did go over board at some points, and I'm sorry I ever made you uncomfortable." Kurt started to try to move around Finn. "Now leave me alone."

Finn stopped him. "I just want to make sure you're careful."

Kurt gave Finn a soft smile. "Are you going all big brother on me Finn Hudson?"

Finn smiled back, happy that Kurt finally understood that he wasn't trying to be the bad guy. "Yeah. I guess."

Kurt's smile turned to a sneer of disdain. "Well don't. Because you're not my big brother. After everything you've said, you're not even my friend. Not anymore." He pushed past the larger boy and all but ran down the hall way to his class.

"How do you handle it?" Kurt asked as he stared into his coffee cup. "Being out at school."

"I think I've got it a lot easier than you. Our school has a strict, and I mean strict, no bullying policy. I mean it kind of has to if the students are going to be living together all year. And I'm not the only kid who's out at school." Blaine put his hand on Kurt's so he looked up at him. "You're an incredibly brave guy. The reason I'm at my school now was because I couldn't handle the bullying in middle school. And looking back on that, it was nothing. It seemed like the biggest deal in the world to me at the time. I can tell you right now, you'll look back on high school the same way."

Kurt didn't look too sure, but he nodded and studied the table. "Have you… have you ever been with another guy?"

"Yeah."

"What was it like?" Kurt bit his lip quickly and started to stammer. "I'm sorry. You don't have to tell me. I shouldn't have-"

Blaine squeezed his hand. "It was amazing. When you're in love with some one it's the best feeling in the world."

"How do you know when you're in…"

Blaine shrugged. "The songs make sense."

Kurt huffed a little laugh and checked his watch. His eyes widened. "Crap. We need to get back to school. We're going to be late."

Blaine tossed a few bills on the table when Kurt started rummaging through his bag for his wallet. "Lunch is on me."

"But-"

"C'mon." Blaine stood up and offered Kurt his hand. "Don't want you to be late for class."

**Chapter 3: You're not Eminem and I'm not Rhianna**

"Good lunch?"

"Yeah." Blaine was lounging on the couch watching tv while Sam sat on the floor beside him struggling through his homework. "Kurt's a good kid. It's too bad he's been so beat up on. He's got like no self confidence." He sat up. "When do you have your next glee practice?"

"Tomorrow"

"Think your teacher will let me sing a song?"

Sam shrugged. "Probably. But dude, if you're any good they'll go all crazy eyes at you and try to recruit you."

"I think I'll take that risk. Besides, my glee club wouldn't let it stand if your glee club kidnapped me."

"Dalton has a glee club now?"

"Started this year. The Dalton Academy Warblers." Blaine smiled smugly. "I actually think we'll be competing against you guys in regionals if you get through sectionals."

"You mean if _iyou/i_ get past sectionals."

"Please. With me singing lead? No contest."

"You're lead?"

"Right? Isn't that totally awesome?" Blaine flopped back down on the couch and started flipping through channels. "What was that tall guy's name?"

"Finn?"

"Yeah, what's his problem? He was giving me the hairy eyeball while I was talking to Kurt during practice. And Kurt seemed kinda nervous or upset by it."

Sam shrugged and turned his attention to his homework. "Finn's been giving Kurt a hard time. They're kind of almost step-brothers I guess 'cause their parents are going out. I don't really know what's up with them. Finn told me to not sing a duet with him."

Blaine sat up on his elbows. "You did though right?"

"I would have. But Kurt broke it off."

Blaine frowned. "And you let him?"

"Don't look at me like that." Sam snapped. "I didn't know what to do. And I've already talked to Finn about it, and how what he did was wrong." When Blaine's expression didn't change, Sam threw a pen at him. "Seriously. stop looking at me like that. There wasn't a whole lot that I could do."

"Who'd he end up singing with?"

"Himself."

"How do you duet with yourself?"

"I dunno, but his thing was totally awesome and… dude, stop looking like I kicked a baby or something." Sam looked away and stared at his homework intensely. "You weren't there. So don't get all judgmentally on me. I'm going to try to do right by him. It's just hard you know. I'm new here, and I'm trying to get settled in too. This isn't like Dalton."

"I can see that." Sam spun around to glare at him so he held his hands up in surrender. "I'm not judging you, so relax." He tossed the pen back at Sam. "I get it."

Sam chewed his lip eager to get off the subject. "So… what are you going to sing?"

Blaine relaxed back onto the couch allowing the change. "You'll see." He looked up at the TV and broke out into a grin. "Hey dude! Firefly!"

Sam looked up. "I learned how to play this on my guitar."

"Dude, that's totally awesome."

"Hey Dad." Kurt squeezed his dad's shoulder as he walked past the couch towards the kitchen.

"Hey kid." Burt looked up from his newspaper. "How was school?"

"The usual."

"Carole and Finn are coming over for dinner tonight remember?"

Kurt froze, he hadn't remembered. "Uh… right." He shook himself a little and turned around to face his dad with a tight grin. "Great. Just don't think this means you're getting a chance to sneak in anything that's not on your approved foods list."

Burt rolled his eyes and turned back to his paper. Kurt turned around and sagged against the counter.

_Crap._

"Dinner is very good sweetie." Carole smiled encouragingly at Kurt. "You're going to have to show me how to make it.

He tried to return the smile. "Thanks. The secret ingredient is the saffron."

Carole hummed approvingly. Burt watched his son closely, frowning at how tense he seemed. He glanced over at Finn, who'd been staring at Kurt nervously. He wondered if the two had had another falling out.

"How was glee Finn?"

Finn looked up startled. "Uh… it was cool. Yeah."

"Anything interesting happen?"

"There was a new kid."

"He was just visiting." Kurt added hastily. Burt did not miss the look of warning Kurt shot at Finn. "He was a friend of Sam's. From his old school."

Burt raised an eyebrow. "He nice?"

"He seemed to be yeah." Kurt took another bite of his food, making sure to not meet Burt or Finn's gazes.

"What was his name?"

"Blaine." Kurt replied quickly and stood up. "Does anyone want anything else?"

Burt shot a glance at Finn who was watching Kurt retreat into the kitchen. "Something happen?" He motioned between Finn and Kurt's empty chair. "You two alright?"

Finn shot one last look back at Kurt before obviously pasting on a smile. "Yeah. Why wouldn't we be?"

Before Burt could reply, Kurt plonked down a fresh glass of water in front of him. He frowned. "I didn't ask for any water."

"You need to drink more. The doctor said." Kurt rolled his eyes and gave Carole a long suffering grin. "Honestly, I've seen toddlers who were less fussy and more mature than him."

Carole grinned back. "Finn is exactly the same way when he gets sick. He gets so moany and irritable, but the moment you try and take care of them they act like you're smothering them."

"Tell me about it." Kurt agreed whole-heartedly. "You do something nice, and what thanks do you get? They'll just lash out because you're the only one there."

Carole's smile slipped a bit and she shot Burt an uneasy look.

Burt felt his stomach clench as he wondered if that was true.

Kurt for his part was mentally kicking himself for letting something that honest slip out. He'd just meant to turn the conversation away from Blaine so Finn couldn't say anything about it. He had most definitely not wanted to let any of his frustration and stress from taking care of his father show. Scrambling quickly to salvage the situation he waved his hand flippantly and turned his eyes heavenward. "It's a good thing we love them so much. Just can't live without the big dumb lugs." He decided to move on to a safer subject and turned to Finn. "Have you started studying for the history test?

After dinner Kurt headed to his room early, citing an early morning and a test tomorrow. Carole and Burt settled on the couch to watch some TV. Finn stuck around but excused himself to follow Kurt.

"Kurt?"

Kurt was going through his moisturizing routine and didn't turn from the vanity. "Go away Finn."

"How was lunch?"

"Fine."

"Did you guys talk?"

"Yeah."

"About?"

"The best place to have wild gay monkey sex. We're split between the piano in the choir room and Principal Figgin's desk. Personally I'm a fan of the piano." Kurt started applying cream to his face. "Though I suppose we could try out both. And there were some great points made for the football field. Alfresco and under the stars sounds kind of romantic. I think it would be kind of scratchy though and grass'll get everywhere. What are your thoughts?"

"Kurt, c'mon."

Kurt shot him a look through the mirror. "What do you want?"

"I'm sorry. Okay?"

"No it's not okay." Kurt snapped. Softly he added, "but I do understand that you're sorry."

"Then why can't you forgive me? I am really really sorry."

"I know." Kurt chewed his bottom lip and started fixing his hair. "I know, but it doesn't work that way. I just- I can't. I can't get over what you said. Because you may really mean that you're sorry-"

"I am."

"But you really meant what you said too." Kurt looked at him through the mirror.

Finn sat down on the edge of the bed, trying to think of something to say.

"Like I said earlier, I know I went overboard at some points. But…" Kurt looked up at the ceiling and said softly, "I never wanted to have sex with you, you know."

"What?"

"Puck is much hotter frankly. Mike is too." Kurt started putting his various products away. "You… you were nice. You let me take off my jacket before they threw me into the dumpsters. You told Puck off when he shoulder checked me into the lockers in front of you." He paused and huffed a laugh. "How _fucked_ up is that? I saw you as my knight in shining _fucking_ armor because you showed a tiny, and I mean _tiny_ bit of decency."

Finn flinched, it sounded wrong when the other boy cursed. "Kurt-"

"I _might_ not an innocent victim here. I get that. But damnit Finn, it was never like you were a damn damsel in distress. You _kenw_ I liked you. You _knew _it. And you used it." Kurt was getting more and more worked up. "It was killing me inside, because I knew you would never really like me back. But I kept pushing, because I was just so desperate to be with someone. I was just so _pathetic._"

Finn got up and put his hand on Kurt's shoulder. "Stop it."

Kurt flinched back violently. "It needs to be said though. Our parents are very happy together. And I personally think that they deserve it. Dad needs someone. Lord knows he can't take care of himself… " He got up and moved away from Finn. "So this needs to be said to… to clear the air." He turned and looked at Finn. "Talking to Blaine… I can watch those 'It gets better' videos a hundred times. But Blaine was a real living-breathing example in front of me of a place where I could be happy. And just that helps. It helps a lot." He took a deep breath. "So here is how it's going to be. We are not friends. I don't think we ever will be, but for our parents' sake we will get along. Okay?'

"No."

Kurt faltered. "What?"

"No. That's not okay. I can't accept that we'll never be friends."

Kurt frowned. "Why not?"

"It's not fair."

"And what exactly isn't fair about it? " Kurt asked with a dangerous edge in his voice. "It's not like I've never given you a chance Finn. And you've made it clear we can't be. You can't handle not being popular. I will not be friends with you just to make you feel better about yourself, because I know the moment you feel that being nice to me is going to threaten your reputation you will toss me aside again."

"I wouldn't-"

"You do. The jocks think it's fun to push me around, you join them. They start slushing you, I have to commit slushiecide. They start suggesting you caught the gay from living with me, you flip out and call me a fag." Kurt counted off on his fingers. "And now it turns out you project louder than Rachel in the auditorium." He sighed. "So I can't trust you. You're not Eminem, and I'm not Rhianna. We'll be civil. We'll be in glee together, and it looks like sooner rather than latter we will be cohabiting the same house. It's a big house. We can make it work." Kurt headed off to the bathroom with his pajamas. "I wasn't kidding about having an early morning start. I do need to get to sleep soon."

"No." Finn grabbed his arm to stop him. "I never thought-"

"That's the point."

"I want to be friends. When I talked to Sam and he called me out on stuff, when you called me out on stuff earlier… I got it. And you're right. We needed to clear the air. Because even after the Gaga incident we hadn't gotten over things. I hadn't gotten over things. That was on me. We should have had a talk. But… now we did. And I- I get it. A-and we should start over."

"I can't-"

"You're going to be my friend. And maybe sometime… soon, I'll be yours too."

Kurt looked down. "I- I really do need to get to bed."

"Right." Finn let go of Kurt's arm. "I'll see you at glee then."

Kurt nodded silently.

"Right." Finn looks around a bit awkwardly before patting Kurt on the shoulder, ignoring the boy's slight flinch and headed back up the stairs.

**Chapter 4: Ducktales**

Kurt and Mercedes were walking down the hall to glee chatting away about their up coming history test when they heard someone singing from the choir room. They frowned, they were usually the first ones there. And it wasn't one of the glee clubbers singing.

Kurt suddenly smiled when he recognized the song.

_Life is like a hurricane here in Duckburg_

_Race cars, lasers, aeroplanes - it's a duck blur_

_You might solve a mystery or rewrite history_

They walked into the room to see Sam, Blaine and Brittany sitting around. Blaine was on Sam's guitar singing to an enthralled Brittany while Sam smiled and tapped the beat.

_Duck Tales, Oo-oo_

_Tales of derring-do, bad and good luck tales, oo-oo_

_D-d-d-danger, watch behind you - there's a stranger out to find you_

_What to do? Just grab onto some_

_Duck Tales, oo-oo!_

_Not pony tails or cotton tails but_

_Duck Tales, oo-oo!_

Blaine looked up at their direction and winked at Kurt. He nodded at the seat next to him. Kurt smiled shyly back and quickly pulled Mercedes with him to take the seat.

_When it seems they're headed for the final curtain_

_Bold deduction never fails, that's for certain_

_The worst of messes become successes!_

_Duck Tales, Oo-oo_

_Tales of derring-do, bad and good luck tales, oo-oo_

_Not pony tails or cotton tails but_

_Duck Tales, oo-oo!_

"Wooo." Blaine handed back Sam's guitar. "What'd you think?" He asked Kurt.

"You're such a dork." Kurt replied with a smile.

Sam frowned. "Come on. That was like the best show ever."

"I never said it wasn't. It doesn't change the fact you're a dork."

Mercedes looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

The three boys and Brittany looked at her with something akin to horror. "You've never seen duck tales?" Kurt asked slowly.

Mercedes looked at them like they were all insane.

More people from glee filtered in. Mercedes went to sit next to Quinn, muttering something about 'crazies'.

Kurt noticed Finn was approaching. He looked down at his hands, he really didn't want to deal with the other boy after last night. He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to Blaine in surprise.

"You alright Kurt?"

He could see from the corner of his eye Finn pause and turn to walk around them and sit next to Rachel. He nodded. "Yeah. Thanks."

"Alright, everybody." Mr. Shue bounded in cheerfully. "How are the assignments going?" There were a few shrugs and a couple "fines". Mr. Shue nodded. "Great. Before we get started does anyone have anything they want to share?"

Blaine raised his hand. Mr. Shue looked confused, but motioned for him to come forward.

Blaine took Sam's guitar and walked to the middle of the room. "Hi, I've met a couple of you guys. For you who don't know me, I'm Blaine. I used to go to school with Sam. And with your permission I'd like to share a song with you."

Mr. Shue smiled. "Take it away."

Blaine nodded his thanks and started. Kurt's breath caught, as Blaine locked gazes with him.

_Sometimes in our lives we all have pain_

_We all have sorrow_

_But if we are wise_

_We know that there's always tomorrow_

_Lean on me, when you're not strong_

_And I'll be your friend_

_I'll help you carry on_

_For it won't be long_

_'Til I'm gonna need_

_Somebody to lean on_

_Please swallow your pride_

_If I have things you need to borrow_

_For no one can fill those of your needs_

_That you don't let show_

_Lean on me, when you're not strong_

_And I'll be your friend_

_I'll help you carry on_

_For it won't be long '_

_Til I'm gonna need_

_Somebody to lean on_

_If there is a load_

_You have to bear_

_That you can't carry_

_I'm right up the road_

_I'll share your load_

_If you just call me_

_So just call on me brother, when you need a hand_

_We all need somebody to lean on_

_I just might have a problem that you'd understand_

_We all need somebody to lean on_

_Lean on me_

_When you're not strong_

_And I'll be your friend_

_I'll help you carry on_

_For it won't be long_

_Till I'm gonna need_

_Somebody to lean on_

_Just call me_

_When you need a friend_

_Call me_

_Just call me…_

Mr. Shue and the club started clapping enthusiastically when he finished. And Blaine quickly took his seat next to Kurt.

"What'd you think?" He asked quietly as Shue started talking more about their assignment on 'discovery'.

"Your voice has some possible potential, I suppose." Kurt remarked offhandedly, but he couldn't quite keep the grin off his face.

Blaine nudged him good-naturedly, Kurt gave up trying to hide it and broke into a full blown smile and pushed him back.

"Sam and I are going to do a star trek marathon after school, if you'd like to come over."

Kurt looked over at Sam who nodded and smiled encouragingly. "Which generation?"

"The original of course." Sam replied looking offended that Kurt could even ask that question.

Kurt chewed his lip and nodded. "I'm in."

The boys focused on the front of the room again when Mr. Shue cleared his throat and shot them a meaningful look.

None of them noticed the frown Finn was sending their way.

Finn was serious about becoming friends with Kurt. Sam had been right. People like Kurt are the type to always have your back. And Finn was going to do his best to prove to Kurt that he had his.

First thing he had to do was keep Blaine and Kurt apart. Kurt might not appreciate it now, but it really would be for his own good. He might want to be near someone who was like him, but right now Kurt was an emotional mess, because of his dad and everything. Blaine was obviously picking up on all of that and was clearly taking advantage.

Finn wasn't about to sit back and let that happen. He'll watch out for Kurt. That's what good friends do right?

Finn knew that it would probably be easier convincing Blaine to stay away from Kurt than it would be convincing Kurt to stay away from Blaine. But he knew that a surefire way to get Sam to quit glee club would be to threaten his old school friend.

So he cornered Kurt by the lockers after glee.

"I think you should stay away from Blaine."

Kurt glared at him. "You- you what?"

"You should stay away from Blaine."

Kurt turned a rather interesting color red. "I can't believe you would-" He fumbled trying to find the right words. "We've talked about this. We've talked about this and we've talked about how our interactions were supposed to go, and… you said you wanted to be my friend. And this proves exactly why I was right to not believe you."

"I am being your friend by telling you this Kurt." Finn grabbed the other boy's arm. "You should stay away from him."

"Because it'll offend the homophobic assholes of this school's sensibilities?"

"No. That's not it." Finn shook his head. "Well that's not all of it. He knows he's the first guy you met that is also gay. He knows you're lonely-"

"So you think I'm desperate."

"Aren't you?" Finn tightened his grip on the other boy's arm. "Look me in the eye and tell me you're not, that you wouldn't jump at the first chance you got to have a boyfriend."

Kurt looked away. "Let me go Finn."

"It's like with what happened with Jessie and Rachel. He knows all he has to do is be nice to you and he can manipulate you to do what he wants."

No one was more surprised than Kurt when he threw a punch. Trapped between the lockers and the other boy he couldn't quite get enough momentum to do much damage, not that a he could really do much damage to a 6'3" quarter back that outweighed him by 50lbs. But it still came as a shock to both of them and Finn staggered back as it connected with his cheek.

He shoved Kurt hard against the lockers. "I'm looking out for you."

"Don't." Kurt looked like he was about to cry now. "Please just leave me alone."

"I'm going to keep you from getting hurt. That's what friends do. That's what brothers do."

"You are not my brother!"

"We're going to be soon. I heard your dad on the phone the other day talking to the jewelers."

Kurt blanched in shock. "What?"

"And I know you don't take the idea of offending those 'homophobic assholes' seriously, but they are dangerous Kurt. If they find out that you might be going out with another guy... it's not going to matter that he's from a different school. And Blaine won't be here to deal with the fallout. It's going to be all on you."

Kurt wasn't paying attention. "He was talking to the jewelers?"

"He's probably going to propose soon." Finn put his hand on Kurt's shoulder. "You've said before, they deserve this. They do. And we need to do our part to help them out. That means we've got to be able to get a long."

"He hasn't said anything to me."

Finn frowned, Kurt looked like he was miles away now. "Kurt focus."

Kurt came back to himself. He angrily tried to push Finn away.

"Kurt. Please. I'm honestly trying to help."

"I don't need it. I don't want it. All I want from you Finn is to for you to never talk to me again. Ever." Kurt looked at him with cold eyes. "And you better not talk to Blaine about this because Sam will quit and all the trouble you went through to keep me from singing with Sam and for you to blow the duet diva off for nothing."

"You knew we blew the contest?"

"Please. Brittany knew you blew the contest." Kurt finally managed to shove past Finn and got a good distance away from him. "And that's not the point. If you truly want to be my friend Finn you're going to leave me alone. "

"Kurt-" He didn't get to finish as Kurt turned and ran down the hallway.

"_Hello?"_

"Hi Sam?"

"_Yeah?"_

"It's Kurt."

"_Hey Kurt. We were wondering when you were coming over."_

"I…can't. Because… my dad. I've got to help him out. He really can't get too stressed out after his heart attack and-"

"_Hey, that's ok. It's cool. See you tomorrow then?"_

"Y-yeah. I'll see you."

Kurt hung up the phone and threw it on the car passenger seat angrily. He leaned against the window as he looked out across the empty school parking lot and let the tears flow.


	2. Chapter 5 through 8

**Chapter 5: more than this provincial life**

**Sam singing**

_Blaine singing_

_**Both**_

xxx

"Hey Dad."

"Hey kiddo." Burt sat up straighter on the couch. "C'mere."

Kurt hesitated. "I've got to go-"

"I really think we need to talk. About last night."

"What about last ni-" Kurt trailed off. "Oh. Dad, that didn't mean anything. I- you don't- I was just tired, and it had been a long day. That just slipped out, and it wasn't-"

"Kurt, shut up." He patted the seat next to him. Kurt wordlessly sat down. "I know you didn't mean to say what you said. But that doesn't make it any less true. I haven't been treating you right."

Kurt winced. "Dad…"

"I've been thinking all day. When was the last time I said thank you for dinner? Or breakfast? Or lunch?"

"You don't need to-"

Burt shook his head. "A hell of a lot got dumped on your shoulders. A hell of a lot more than what a kid your age should have to deal with."

"I don't mind."

"I do."

Kurt looked up trying to figure out what exactly that was supposed to mean. "It's alright."

"No Kurt. It ain't." Burt ran a hand over his face. "I'm supposed to be the one who takes care of you."

"You just had a heart attack. I think that gives you a free pass for a while."

Burt nodded. "This heart attack was a wake up call. I'm not always going to be around. And it kills me to think that you'll be alone. I know that it's been just the two of us, standing against the world for a while, but… "

Kurt's mouth went dry.

"I'm going to ask Carole to marry me."

No no nonono_nonono_. No. Not now. Not so soon… Not so close to everything else that had been happening in his life. Not now… "That's great dad!" Kurt smiled.

"How do you think Finn will take it?"

Kurt hesitated and chewed his lip. "He knows."

Burt looked shocked. "What?"

"He heard you talking to the jewelers the other day."

That meant that Kurt had known too. Burt winced. He probably was none too happy to have heard it from someone else first. But he seemed genuinely happy. "Ah."

"Yeah."

Burt looked hopeful. "But he's okay with it?"

"Yeah." Kurt looked at his hands. "He's… all set to be a brother." He plastered on another smile. "When are you going to ask her?"

"I was going to do it when they came to dinner on Friday."

_So soon…_ "I'll make something special then."

Burt put a hand on his shoulder. "Kurt. I love you."

"I love you too dad." Kurt shifted from his dad's hold. "I-"

"What?"

"Nothing." Kurt chuckled nervously. "I've got a lot of homework tonight."

Burt frowned. "Alright."

"I'll… be back up soon to make dinner." Kurt shot up from the couch and disappeared in the basement.

Burt couldn't shake the feeling that he missed something very important.

xxx

"Hey Kurt."

Kurt looked up from where he had been slowly stirring and mushing his lunch into glop that would physically represent how unappealing he was finding food right now. "Oh, Blaine."

Blaine smiled as he sat down across from the other boy. "Mmm. Gravy covered lime jello. I've heard that's delicious. And I see you're being adventurous by adding chicken and peas to the mix. Very bold. Did you add pepper yet?"

Kurt blushed and put his fork down.

"It was too bad you couldn't come over last night."

"Yeah."

"Maybe tonight?"

"I can't." Kurt bit his lip. "My dad… he… I need to help him out."

"Not even for an hour or two?"

Kurt shook his head. "Sorry."

"I'm going to be heading back to school soon, and I'd like us to talk more before I leave."

"I don't think I'll have time." Kurt had unconsciously started to mush his food around again. "Sorry."

"That's alright, I understand." Blaine put a hand on his and smiled softly. "You know my song yesterday? I was serious. Anytime you need a friend, you call me."

Kurt tried to return the smile, but it came out more as a grimace. "Thanks."

"Is something wrong?"

"No." Kurt managed a smile but knew it probably looked as fake as it felt. "It's just been a stressful time with my dad being sick."

Blaine nodded. "I bet." He stood up and took his tray. "We've got one more glee practice on Friday right?"

"Yeah."

"Sam and I have been working on a mashup for his assignment. I hope you'll like it." Blaine grinned. "See you later."

Kurt nodded quietly as Blaine walked away. He looked up and ended up locking gazes with Finn who had been watching him from across the dining hall. After a moment Kurt looked away and hurriedly gathered his stuff and left without looking back.

He missed the flash of concern that crossed Finn's face.

xxx

Finn knew that Kurt was going to be upset by his advice to keep away from Blaine. Finn could even understand why. But he hadn't expected Kurt to look so…_sad._

He felt bad about it. But he knew it was for the best. And Kurt was taking his advice, so that must mean that Kurt knew it was for the best too. If Kurt looked this sad now, how bad off would he have been if he'd discovered how Blaine was using him after Blaine had finished taking advantage. _This was for the best_

Blaine would be leaving soon. He'll make it up to Kurt then.

xxx

"Alright guys. Discovery. Who is ready to share?" Rachel and Sam both raised their hands. Will pointed to Sam and motioned for him to come forward. "Sam first."

Rachel huffed as Sam and Blaine both walked to middle of the room, Blaine carrying Sam's guitar.

Sam ran a hand awkwardly through his hair. "So… uh, we decided to do a mashup. And for the record, Blaine picked the songs."

Blaine started the opening chords. "Liar."

Sam rolled his eyes and began to sing.

**Little town it's a quiet village.**

**Everyday like the one before.**

**Little town full of little people,**

**waking up to say.**

**Bonjour!**

**There goes the baker with his tray like always.**

**The same old bread and rolls to sell.**

**Every morning just the same since the morning that we came,**

**To this poor provintial town.**

**Look there she goes that girl is strange no question.**

**Dazed and distracted, can't you tell?**

**Never part of any crowd.**

**Cuz her heads up on some cloud.**

**No denying she's a funny girl that Belle.**

**There must be more than this provincial life.**

Finn frowned when Blaine locked eyes with Kurt as he began to sing. Couldn't he just leave the poor kid alone?

_I wanna be where the people are_

_I wanna see, wanna see them dancin'_

_Walking around on those - what do you call 'em?_

_Oh - feet!_

_Flippin' your fins, you don't get too far_

_Legs are required for jumping, dancing_

_Strolling along down a - what's that word again?_

_Street_

_Up where they walk, up where they run_

_Up where they stay all day in the sun_

_Wanderin' free - wish I could be_

_Part of that world_

**Now It's no wonder that her name means beauty,**

**her looks have got no parallel.**

**But behind that fair facade, I'm afraid she's rather odd.**

**Very different from the rest of us.**

**She's nothing like the rest of us.**

**Yes different from the rest of us is Belle.**

**There must be more than this provincial life!**

_When's it my turn?_

_Wouldn't I love, love to explore that world up above?_

_Out of the sea_

_Wish I could be_

_Part of that world_

**Look there she goes**

**The girl is strange but special**

**A most peculiar mad'moiselle!**

**It's a pity and a sin**

**She doesn't quite fit in**

_**'Cause she really is a funny girl**_

_**A beauty but a funny girl**_

_**She really is a funny girl**_

_**That Belle!**_

Everyone except Finn and Kurt started clapping enthusiastically as soon as they were done. As they started towards their seats Kurt motioned to the empty chair next to him so Blaine took it.

Blaine frowned when he saw how suspiciously bright Kurt's eyes were. "Are-"

"The song was…" Kurt swallowed and smiled softly at him. "Thank you."

xxx

A/N:Videos of Darren singing 'Part of your world' and 'Belle' are on floating around on youtube. Check them out!

**Chapter 6: Haven't met you yet**

He's going to have to get used to putting down four place settings every night. Kurt stopped as the breath caught in his throat. He hadn't felt like this when Carole and Finn had been moving in the first time.

She might not even say yes…

Kurt snorted and went back to the kitchen to check on the food.

He was going to have to cook twice as much food from now on as well. Well, given the amount Finn consumed, he'd probably have to triple his recipes. Unless Carole decided to try cooking as well. Kurt shook his head, like he was ever going to let someone else in his kitchen.

"Kurt?"

"Yeah Dad?"

"How are you doing?"

Kurt turned around to the counter and started chopping some carrots. "Fine. Dinner is almost ready."

"Are you really alright with this?"

"Of course. I'm really happy for you dad."

Burt snorted. "Would you tell me if you weren't?"

Kurt started chopping the carrots harder. "Of course."

"Turn around and tell me that."

Kurt paused and reluctantly turned around. "When you're happy dad, I'm happy. And Carole makes you happy." He turned back around quickly. "Besides, I've already put a lot of effort into dinner tonight to make it special. I would be horribly offended if you didn't take advantage of that."

Burt put his hand on Kurt's shoulder, "Kiddo-"

They were interrupted by a knocking at the door. Kurt frowned. "They're early."

"I'll let them in."

"Keep them out of my kitchen!" Kurt called out after him, Burt just waved him away. As soon as his dad was eyesight Kurt slumped against the counter. This was going to be a very long night.

xxx

"Kurt. This was amazing." Carole sighed happily as she pushed her empty plate away.

Kurt blushed and jumped up quickly to start clearing the table. "There's still desert."

"Oh honey, I don't think I could manage another bite."

"You might change your mind when you see it." Kurt shot a look at Finn. "Can you grab a few plates Finn?"

"Huh?"

Carole cleared her throat and glared at her son.

"Oh. Yeah of course." Finn quickly got up to help and followed Kurt to the kitchen. He was just surprised Kurt was talking to him. Or putting himself in a position where they would be forced to interact, for just a few minutes sure, but still.

"Just put those plates by the sink." Kurt said as he pulled out a covered plate from the fridge.

"Ok." Finn did as he was told and realized this might be the perfect opportunity to bring up the song Blaine and Sam had sung in glee. Their parents were just outside, so Kurt couldn't get too upset. This way he might be able to make his case before Kurt got unreasonable again. "Listen Kurt-"

Kurt pulled the cover from the dish. On it was a small elegant chocolate frosted cake. On top of it was a red sugar rose with a diamond ring in the middle.

Finn blinked. "Uh…"

"What do you think?"

"Uh…"

"Is your mom going to like it?" Kurt prompted.

"Oh…" Finn nodded. "Yeah. I think so."

"Alright." Kurt covered the dish. "Do you mind grabbing the desert plates and silverware?"

"I didn't know he was going to propose so soon."

"He's taking this heart attack as a wake up call. Time for him to seize the day and all that." He raised an eyebrow at Finn. "You're alright with this right?"

"Yeah."

"Even though this will probably lead to you and your mom moving in again?"

"Dude, it won't be like last year."

Kurt bit his lip and nodded. "Alright. Ready?"

Finn put his hand on Kurt's shoulder. "What about you? You okay with this?"

"Of course." Kurt smiled. "They're going to be happy together."

"But-"

"Plates. Come on." Kurt cut him off briskly and walked out of the kitchen.

Carole smiled up at the boys as they came out of the kitchen. "You were in there for a while. Everything alright?"

Kurt set the dish down in front of her. "Everything is just fine." He shot a significant look at his dad and took his seat.

Carole eyed Burt strangely as he stood up and came around the table to stand beside her.

"Carole… a-after my heart attack… I had a lot of time to do a lot of thinking, and I realized how short life could be. So… Carole…"

Carole realized where this was going. "Oh Burt…" she breathed softly.

Burt lifted the lid of the dish, and she gasped. "Will you marry me?"

Carole quickly turned to Finn, who smiled and nodded. She spun back to face Burt. "Yes. Oh god yes." She stood up and hugged him tightly. "Yes."

xxx

Finn quickly came to the realization that this was an even better time to bring up the song from glee. Mom and Burt were completely caught up in each other and were cuddling on the couch, and there was no way that Kurt would risk ruining their happy mood. He turned around and found a key flaw in his plan.

Kurt wasn't there.

But he'd just been standing right there ten seconds ago.

Behind him he heard the isnick/i of a door closing and realized the other boy had snuck back into the basement. Damn Kurt could move fast. He looked quickly to the two adults, he wasn't going to be missed any time soon.

xxx

"What do you want Finn?" Kurt snapped as he eyed the other boy through his mirror.

Finn decided to ignore his tone. "So… we're going to actually be brothers."

"Yeah."

"I mean, wow. We're going to be related."

"In name only." Kurt sighed and turned around. "What did you want?"

"We haven't really had the chance to talk. Properly I mean."

"hmm…"

"Not since Wednesday."

"Strange that." Kurt examined his nails. "Especially considering how wonderfully that conversation went."

"I'm sorry Kurt."

Kurt shrugged. "Whatever. Blaine is leaving on Sunday anyway."

"I know I said some things you didn't want to hear." Finn walked up so he was standing next to the other boy. "But… I'm just trying to watch out for you. And you listened, so I guess that means you-"

"That means I'm tired Finn." Kurt stood up and walked away from his vanity, putting distance between him and Finn. "Blaine isn't going to be here. But you are." Kurt crossed his arms across his chest. "I can't- I… I hate you so much."

"What?"

"I thought I was so over you. I _am_ over you. I really am. And yet… Damn it I thought with Blaine I found a friend. Someone who could really understand what it's like. And then you suggest he's just using me, and all of the sudden everything he's done… it's tainted. He's been so sweet and nice… but now I can't stop questioning every little gesture. And I hate it that you can do that. That I let you do that."

"I'm sorry."

"It isn't even your fault." Kurt wiped at his eyes. "I've always been stupid where you're concerned. At least before I could blame it on my crush."

"I'm- I was just looking out for you." Finn moved towards him.

"I know." Kurt straightened up. "I know. And I suppose that's supposed to make it better. But it doesn't. Because I'm still alone. Why do you think that's what will be best for me?" He started to take a step back as Finn closed in on him but Finn pulled him into a hug. Kurt struggled. "Let me go."

Finn didn't listen and continued to hold him close until the other boy stopped struggling and sagged against his chest.

"I don't think that's the best for you. But right now it's- it's dangerous. What do you think the jocks would do if you started dating?"

"I don't care."

"With mom and your dad getting married, it's not just you who would be affected anymore Kurt."

"Why can't you just leave me be?" Kurt mumbled into his shirt.

"We're going to be brothers. And I just want to keep you from getting hurt."

"You're doing a great job so far." Kurt started struggling again and managed to extract himself from Finn's hold.

"Sweetie?" Carole called down from the top of the stairs. "Finn, we're going home now."

"Yeah mom." Finn replied but he didn't look away from Kurt.

Kurt went back to his vanity. "Goodnight Finn."

"Kurt-"

"Sweetie, we're leaving now."

"I'll be right up mom." He turned to Kurt who had his back to him now. "Kurt I- yeah, goodnight."

xxx

Kurt lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He peered over at his clock. 2:00. He flipped over on his side. No sleep tonight then

His phone buzzed as it received a text message. Frowning he picked it up, who else would be up?

And as he read it he couldn't help the smile that broke across his face. He quickly sent a reply and put his phone back on the nightstand.

Five minutes later he fell asleep.

There was a grin on his face.

xxx

"Mr. Shue. If I may?"

Mr. Shue nodded and motioned for Kurt to come forward. "You may."

Kurt motioned for some of the jazz band kids to come in and went to the front of the room and handed sheet music to Brad. "Discovery, as I've been finding more and more recently, can sometimes be a very bad thing. You find out people aren't who you think they are. You aren't the person you wanted to be. Things aren't as wonderful as they had seemed." He shrugged. "And when that happens, you can get to the point where you just wish you could stop looking." He locked eyes with Finn and gave a slight half smile. "This song isn't about that."

He nodded for Brad to start without breaking his gaze with Finn.

_I'm not surprised, not everything lasts_

_I've broken my heart so many times,_

_I stopped keeping track_

_Talk myself in, I talk myself out_

_I get all worked up, then I let myself down_

Finn shifted awkwardly in his seat. Kurt looked away and turned his back to his audience.

_I tried so very hard not to lose it_

_I came up with a million excuses_

_I thought, I thought of every possibility_

Kurt spun to face the entire club and graced them with a genuine smile that they hadn't seen for a long time and began to dance.

_And I know someday that it'll all turn out_

_You'll make me work, so we can work to work it out_

_And I promise you, kid, that I give so much more than I get_

_I just haven't met you yet_

_I might have to wait, I'll never give up_

_I guess it's half timing, and the other half's luck_

_Wherever you are, whenever it's right_

_You'll come out of nowhere and into my life_

_And I know that we can be so amazing_

_And, baby, your love is gonna change me_

_And now I can see every possibility_

_And somehow I know that it'll all turn out_

_You'll make me work, so we can work to work it out_

_And I promise you, kid, I give so much more than I get_

_I just haven't met you yet_

_They say all's fair_

_In love and war_

_But I won't need to fight it_

_We'll get it right and we'll be united_

_And I know that we can be so amazing_

_And being in your life is gonna change me_

_And now I can see every single possibility_

_And someday I know it'll all turn out_

_And I'll work to work it out_

_Promise you, kid, I'll give more than I get_

_Than I get, than I get, than I get_

_Oh, you know it'll all turn out_

_And you'll make me work so we can work to work it out_

_And I promise you kid to give so much more than I get_

_Yeah, I just haven't met you yet_

_I just haven't met you yet_

_Oh, promise you, kid_

_To give so much more than I get_

_I said love, love, love, love_

_Love, love, love, love_

_(I just haven't met you yet)_

_Love, love, love, love_

_Love, love_

_I just haven't met you yet_

**Chapter 7: Throw pillows**

_We are kidnapping you. And we are not taking no for an answer._

_Unless you do actually say no, in which case we will respect your wishes. But we will be very resentful in a totally non-judgmental or angry or resentful way. But we will have :-( faces. So don't say no._

_Blaine and Sam._

_P.S. Don't make us have :-( faces._

xx

_Can't risk having you get :-( faces. Guess I can't say no._

_Kurt_

xxx

Kurt chewed his lip as he waited for Sam and Blaine to show up. Was he making a mistake? What if Finn- No. He wasn't going to give Finn that power anymore. He wasn't going to assume there was some sort of ulterior motive to everything.

He could believe that someone would want to do something for him just because they actually liked him. That happened to other people. Why couldn't it be true for him?

"Dad are you sure you're going to be ok?"

Burt shot Kurt an annoyed look. "Carole is coming over shortly. I think I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Kurt." Burt got off the couch and made his way to the kitchen to get a glass of water. "You didn't need to call her in to babysit in the first place."

"I- I didn't call her-" Burt turned to raise an eyebrow at him. "You guys need to start thinking about wedding details."

"We haven't even thought about a date. She just said yes."

"Well see? That's something you need to start thinking about." Kurt picked at the hem of his shirt. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay and go over details with you? You are terrible with remembering dates and-"

"If you don't get out of this house in-"

There was a knocking at the door.

Burt smiled and waved his hand in shooing motion. "Scram kid."

"Carole isn't here yet."

"Get out of here."

Kurt reluctantly went to the door and opened it. Blaine was beaming and bouncing on the back of his heels. "You ready?"

"Yeah."

"Your dad is going to be ok?"

"I'll be fine. Get that kid out of here." Burt called from the kitchen.

"Where are we going?"

"Not sure yet. How long can you stay out?"

Kurt chewed his lip. "I'm- maybe just an-"

"I don't want to see him before 8." Burt came out from the kitchen. "Is Mercedes with you?"

Blaine looked confused. "Who?"

Burt frowned. "Kurt-"

Kurt cut him off. "This is Blaine Dad. I told you about Blaine remember?"

"…Yes. Bane-"

"Blaine." Kurt corrected.

"Of course I remember Blaine." Burt nodded slowly. "Where is Mercedes?"

"She's not coming."

"Brittany?"

"No."

"Finn?"

"NO." Kurt replied a bit too forcefully.

"Who's the blonde kid?"

"Sam."

"The duet kid?"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Yes dad."

"Just the three of you then?"

Kurt nodded and turned to Blaine and Sam. "Lets go."

"Kurt. You- you uh left something in the kitchen."

Kurt sighed and shrugged at Blaine and Sam. "I'll be right out." He followed his dad into the kitchen. "What Dad?"

"Are you sure you should be going out by yourself with two boys?"

"They're fine Dad. They're fine being seen with me."

"That isn't what I was afraid of."

"Sam is was the quarterback and Blaine is in pretty good shape. I don't think anyone will hassle us."

"That wasn't it either." Burt shook his head.

Kurt crossed his arms. "What is your problem then?"

"Blaine is Sam's friend from his old school right?"

Kurt raised an eyebrow at his dad. He hadn't actually told his dad anything about Blaine, so he shouldn't know anything about the boy. …unless- He pushed the feeling of dread away. "Yes."

"Finn was telling me about him and-" Burt missed Kurt's flinch as he looked at the countertop. "He was worried."

"I'll be fine." Kurt replied coldly. "I'll see you later."

"Be careful Kurt."

Kurt paused at the kitchen door. "I will."

"Everything alright?" Blaine asked as Kurt got into Sam's car.

"Of course."

"So I was thinking lunch. Movie. Crash at Sam's place and get that Star Trek marathon we didn't get. Objections?"

Kurt forced a smile. Finn was not going to take this from him. "None."

xxx

Blaine leaned back as Sam got up to go to the bathroom. It was starting to get late and Kurt had started making noises about going home soon. "I really enjoyed meeting you Kurt. I wish we had gotten more time to spend together."

Kurt smiled. "Yeah."

"Something is bothering you."

"No. I'm fine." Kurt bit his lip. "Dad proposed to Carole last night."

"Congratulations?"

"She's Finn's mom."

"Ah." Blaine replied, "And is that a not good thing?"

"It's fine."

"Finn was giving me the hairy eyeball every time I talked to you."

Kurt shrugged. "He's practicing to be a protective older brother."

"How has he been doing with that?"

"I couldn't begin to say. I've never had a sibling before."

"Jerky, assholish, irrationally overprotective and kinda smelly?"

Kurt giggled. "That's about right."

"Sounds like he's got it down pat then." Blaine replied sagely. "I've got an older brother. He's three years older. You should have seen him when I brought my first boyfriend home for Christmas break."

"Did he have a problem with you being gay?"

"No." Blaine smiled, "He broke up with his girlfriend after she called Mr. Dawson, our librarian, a fag behind his back."

"Did he ever tell you to tone it down?"

"Does Finn tell you that?" Blaine frowned as Kurt looked away. "Kurt, is that something he says to you?"

"If it were just me, I wouldn't listen. But the stuff people do because of who I am… it doesn't just affect me. They call dad's garage. They make fun of Finn."

"That's on them. That is not on you. That is never on you."

"I wore a Lady gaga costume and 10 inch heels to school." Kurt turned to look back at Blaine, "I don't go out of my way to not be a target."

"That's what makes you so incredible." Kurt looked away again trying to hide the tears welling up in his eyes. Blaine caught his chin and turned him to face him again. "Hey, are you crying?"

"No."

"Don't cry. Please? Sam is going to kill me."

"I'm not crying."

"Okay." Blaine pulled Kurt closer to his side, "Okay."

Kurt gave a watery laugh. "Going to take advantage of me in my emotionally vulnerable state?"

"Wouldn't dream of it. You're much to much of an awesome kid for that." Blaine shook his head. "Besides, Sam would kill me."

Sam entered the room, just catching that last bit of what Blaine said. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!"

"Kurt?"

Kurt struggled up away from Blaine. "He didn't do anything."

"Why are your eyes red?" Sam asked suspiciously. "Dude, were you crying? Dude! You made him cry."

"You ready to have two overprotective brothers?" Blaine stage whispered to Kurt, making him giggle.

Blaine just managed to duck a pillow aimed at his head. Kurt squeezed into one side of the couch to avoid being hit by any of the flying projectile as a good-natured battle ensued. Still it didn't protect him from a ricochet throw pillow. And with that he was dragged into the fight.

Roughhousing like this with other boys was not something he had ever done before. No, scratch that, willing participation in roughhousing was not something he had ever done before. It was fun and mindless and he didn't spare one thought to what Finn or his dad would have thought if they were to walk in in that moment.

Well, he didn't spare that much thought to what they would have thought.

xxx

Kurt was reluctant to get out of the car. Blaine had volunteered to drop him off as Kurt's house was on the way to his aunt's and Sam had to stay behind to clean up the warzone that always appears when a group of teenage boys is mixed with television, sugary fizzy drinks, salty food, and pillows. "Thanks for today."

"I'm glad you were able to join us. I'm kind of sad that I'm going to have to leave tomorrow."

Kurt nodded. "Yeah."

"There is always Winter Break. I'm sure I can get down here for a week or two."

"That'll be nice."

"And you can seriously call me anytime you want. Or im me. You got my contact information right?"

"On the back of my hand, on my phone, on this nice piece of paper in my pocket-"

"Just want to make sure you have it."

Kurt laughed. "I have it."

Blaine stuck out his hand for Kurt to shake. "Take care Kurt."

"You too." Kurt opened the door and hopped out and started to close the door.

"Kurt."

"Yes?"

"Seriously remember, if someone has a problem with you, that's their problem. That's their hang up and it's not your fault. Ever."

Kurt nodded silently and closed the door. He walked to the front porch and watched Blaine pull out of the driveway. He didn't cry as the car turned out of view.

It wasn't like he was never going to talk to Blaine again.

He didn't cry.

Much.

**Chapter 8: Why don't you understand?**

xxx

"Hey Kurt! Wait up."

Kurt considered pretending he didn't hear the larger boy, but the decision was taken away from him when Finn grabbed his shoulder. For a guy who had seemed to be so afraid of catching 'the gay' he's been rather handsy lately.

He shrugged the hand off. "What do you want Finn?"

"I just wanted to say that you did a good job with that song in glee."

"Thank you." Kurt started walking away.

Finn walked with him. "Blaine's gone."

Kurt stiffened but didn't break his stride. "Yeah."

"Was the song about-"

Kurt stopped and spun around to face Finn. "What do you want Finn?"

"I need a ride." Kurt raised an eyebrow and Finn rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Mom dropped me off this morning, but she's going to your place this afternoon so she told me to ask you-"

"Fine." Kurt snapped and started walking again.

"So that song-"

"Why do you care?"

Finn shrugged. "Just curious why you chose it."

"It was appropriate in expressing my feelings."

"So does it mean Blaine wasn't-"

"It had nothing to do with Blaine." Kurt stopped again. "Why do you care so much about Blaine?"

"Just-"

"And why did you tell my dad about him? You told Dad you were 'worried' about Blaine? Blaine has been nothing but a gentleman to me." Kurt ranted, "And you're friends with Sam. Sam and Blaine act like they're brothers. If Sam approves of him don't you think that is some sign that he isn't some sort of- I don't even know what you think he is-"

"I was worried because you've never been with someone who could like you back."

"Whose fault is that?" Kurt demanded.

Finn looked away. "Dude, I'm sorry. But I'm not gay-"

"This isn't about you!" Kurt screamed. "I've never been with a guy who could just be my friend without ever feeling like I had something contagious. Blaine is a friend. That's all I need right now-"

"You barely know him." Finn snapped.

"And yet he's done more for me than you've ever done." Kurt started to walk away but Finn grabbed his arm to stop him. "Don't touch me." Kurt attempted to wrench his arm free, but Finn squeezed tightly. "You're hurting me."

"I'm watching out for you. I am trying to be your friend." Finn growled.

"No. You're hurting me." Kurt tried to pull his arm free again, but couldn't loosen Finn's grip.

"Why don't you understand what would happen if you started dating someone?" Finn demanded. "They'll go after you. And they'll go after your dad, and they'll go after mom. They'll start hassling me."

"I'm not dating anyone. I wasn't going to date anyone."

"That wasn't what it looked like."

"I don't care." Kurt hissed.

"They do."

"Let me go Finn." Finn pushed him away and Kurt crashed against the lockers. He straightened his shirt. "You can find a different way to get home Finn _Hudson_." Kurt shoved the larger boy hard and took off towards the exit.

Finn felt something uncomfortably close to guilt. He hadn't meant to hurt Kurt. But Kurt was being so difficult, and he was refusing to understand. Blaine was dangerous. Even if he wasn't directly a threat, which Finn still wasn't convinced about, the consequences of Kurt spending time with him definitely were.

Wait… why had Kurt put so much emphasis on his last name? Kurt wouldn't try to break their parents up would he? He wouldn't be that petty.

Except he was being selfish enough to not understand that Finn was just protecting them all.

Finn decided it wouldn't hurt to move towards the parking lot a little faster than usual.

xxx

He was surprised to see the Navigator still there in the parking lot. He'd thought for sure that Kurt would have driven away like a bat out of hell.

The car wasn't even on, and Finn spared a second to worry that something bad had happened and maybe he should start checking dumpsters.

When he got to the car he could see Kurt sitting in the front seat, back ramrod straight, eyes red rimmed and staring unseeingly forward. He tried the passenger door's handle and was pleasantly surprised to find it unlocked.

"Kurt?"

"Just get in." Kurt said so softly Finn almost missed it.

Finn wasn't going to wait to be told twice. He climbed in and as soon as he put on his seatbelt Kurt pulled out of the parking lot.

"Kurt, I'm so sor-"

"Finish that sentence and so help me non-existent God, I will drive us into a tree." Kurt said without any emotion in his voice. "Just don't say anything."

Finn felt his temper start to flare up again but just managed to keep it in check. Kurt had waited for him. That was probably a good sign. This weekend Rachel had refused to let him go to second base with her again and Mom had made him go with her to the giant flea market in Columbus and he'd had to pay for a vase that Puck had knocked over during his shift at Sheets N' Things. Plus all of this with Kurt. He'd just had a hard week in general, so this small step forward a good thing.


	3. Chapter 9 through 13

**Chapter 9: Aggressivly passive aggressive**

_**-Alohamora has joined the conversation-**_

_**-Nightcrawler has joined the conversation-**_

**Alohamora- **Hey Kurt. Like the name.

**Nightcrawler-**It seemed appropriate. How is school?

**Alohamora-**It's school. Same old. Got a big test on Thursday. Seriously. We just got back from break and they're already giving us a test. It's like they think we live at school or something… oh wait.

**Alohamora-** How about you?

**Nightcrawler- **Dad and Carole have set a date for the wedding. Two months from now.

**Alohamora- **Good thing or bad?

**Nightcrawler-** Terrible. A November wedding? The weather is going to be terrible. It'll be dark and dreary, and rainy. At least December has Christmas going for it.

**Alohamora- **November has thanksgiving.

**Nightcrawler-** Oh yes, the wonderful holiday where we celebrate the mass murder of the peoples who made sure our ancestors didn't all die off their first winter by stuffing our faces with artery clogging food."

**Alohamora- **That's not entirely factually accurate.

**Alohamora-** But since I can feel your glare coming through my computer, making my imaginary scar burn, we shall move on. I'm sorry, a November wedding. That's terrible.

**Nightcrawler-** Your sincere sympathy is much appreciated.

**Alohamora-** What can I say? I'm a sensitive guy.

**Alohamora- **How goes things with Finn?

**Nightcrawler-** It goes.

**Alohamora-** Not well I take it?

**Nightcrawler-** Not the best.

**Alohamora-** Have you tried talking to him about it?

**Nightcrawler-** Talking tends to be our problem. I think things will work out once Dad and Carole are married. Once they're officially family there will be no pressure on them to make sure Finn and I get along. Finn and I will be able to ignore each other with no repercussions for our parents.

**Alohamora- **That doesn't seem particularly right… What if things don't work out? Then you're stuck with him.

**Nightcrawler-** For two more years. Then I graduate and I go off to New York.

**Alohamora-** I still think talking would be good.

**Nightcrawler-** Last time we talked he pushed me into a locker. I think talking would be bad.

**Alohamora- **Have you talked to your dad?

**Nightcrawler- **I'm not going to drag him into this. He loves Carole. And she makes him happy. Plus after his heart attack I don't want to cause him undo stress. I can handle it.

**Alohamora-** If things ever get out of hand you should talk to someone.

**Nightcrawler-** You say that like he's abusing me.

**Alohamora-** He pushed you into a locker.

Kurt looked at the bruise that ringed his forearm for a moment before typing his reply.

**Nightcrawler-** Don't worry. He's never going to actually hurt me.

xxx

Finn felt guilty. Kurt was such a tiny guy and boy when he had pushed him into the locker he had been suddenly reminded of that fact. Kurt had actually looked scared for a moment before he had pulled himself together and Finn felt horrible for putting that look in Kurt's eyes. Plus the car trip home had been awkward as hell, Kurt not looking anywhere but the road and not responding to anything Finn said except to tell him to shut up. Not that he ever said shut up. But he might as well have.

It was a good sign Kurt hadn't left school without him. But Finn had no doubt that that was more due to the fact that Kurt probably didn't want to make up a reason to their parents about why he had left Finn behind than any forgiveness on Kurt's part.

So Finn was feeling guilty. He wanted to talk to Kurt and apologize. But he wondered if it was too soon. The moment they had gotten to the Hummel house Kurt had escaped into the basement as fast as he could without attracting too much attention from their parents. Not that that would have taken too much effort, they were so wrapped up in each other these days they probably wouldn't have noticed if the entire football team decided to start practicing maneuvers in the living room.

He sat on the couch awkwardly watching TV while Burt and his mom made googily eyes at each other for about half an hour before he decided he would rather face the wrath of Kurt than continue to witness this lovey dovey stuff between two old people.

xxx

**Alohamora-** We're having a prospective student's day next week where kids who might be interested in coming here come and spend a night or two here and go to classes.

**Nightcrawler-** Ok…

**Alohamora- **So I know from Sam's calendar you have a three day weekend during that time. Maybe you'd like to come up?

**Nightcrawler-** But I'm not a prospective student. And aren't prospective students supposed to be like middle-schoolers or something?

**Alohamora-** You could pass for one.

**Nightcrawler-** Funny.

**Alohamora-** And you don't necessarily have to be a middle schooler, and it's not like they are going to know you're not a prosbie either. It'll just be an excuse for you to come up and visit. Dalton isn't big on letting us have friends sleep over and stuff like that so if you were to come up another time you'd have to stay in town.

**Alohamora-** It's just an idea.

**Nightcrawler-** I'd like to. I'll talk to my dad.

**Alohamora-** Dude, it's going to be totally awesome.

**Nightcrawler- **I'll have high expectations then.

xxx

Finn paused on the stairs when he heard Kurt giggling. As quietly as he could and skipping the last step because he knew it squeaked he snuck into the room. Kurt was lying on his bed with his laptop. There was a ping, and Finn realized that Kurt was im'ing someone. Kurt giggled again and quickly started typing a reply.

"Who are you chatting with?"

Kurt squeaked and spun around, the grin quickly falling off his face. "None of your business." He slammed the laptop shut. "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to say sorry."

"Ok."

"I really didn't mean to push you."

Kurt's face completely closed off. "That's good to know."

"So I'm really sorry about it."

"So you've said."

"I just- I really want us to be friends."

"You've said that too." Kurt thought for a second that maybe he shouldn't antagonize Finn so much given his past behavior, but dismissed it. This was his house. "And I made my feelings on that matter very clear."

Finn looked almost angry at that statement and when he took a step forward Kurt barely managed to restrain himself from scrambling back.

Finn paused when he saw Kurt tense. "I know. But I think I can prove that you can trust me eventually." Finn went and sat on the edge of Kurt's bed and ignored the wary look Kurt gave him. "I heard you laughing."

Kurt sat up and crossed his arms defensively. "I was chatting with Mercedes."

"About?"

"Boys."

"Blaine?"

"Celebrities." Kurt replied quickly. "She likes Jay Z, I like Anderson Cooper."

"What about Blaine?"

Kurt frowned and shrugged. "I think he likes Nathan Fillion. But we didn't talk about that much."

Finn's jaw tightened. "I mean, have you heard from him since he left?"

Kurt looked away and ran his hand across his laptop's case. "He only left yesterday."

"Right."

Kurt shook his head. "I don't know why you're so obsessed with him anyway."

"I was just worried about you."

"So you've said."

"Anyway," Finn shrugged, "he's gone, so it's not like it matters anymore."

Kurt turned even further away. "Exactly."

Kurt's phone buzzed on the nightstand. Finn picked it up and passed it to Kurt, but not before he took a sneaky glance at the caller. "Here."

Kurt quickly grabbed it and when he saw who was calling shot a look at Finn. Finn kept a slightly clueless neutral face, which seemed to satisfy Kurt. "It's Mercedes, it's kind of private."

"Oh yeah." Finn nodded. "I'll head back upstairs then."

"Thanks."

xxx

"Hey Dad, I was wondering if it would be okay if I stayed with Mercedes next weekend." Kurt asked while passing out plates for dinner. "Her family is going out of town and they invited me to join them."

"Mercedes or Blaine."

Kurt froze. "Mercedes."

"So if I called her mom up right now that's what she'd tell me?"

"Yes."

Burt turned to Carole. "Carole?"

Kurt couldn't believe it when Carole wordlessly handed his father the phone. But it wasn't until he saw his dad was actually typing in Mercedes's home phone number that he broke, "It was Blaine. Fine. It was Blaine. Dalton, his school, is having a prospective student's day, so it would be a time I could go up and visit."

"You're not a prospective student."

"I know dad, but I really want to go visit him." Kurt begged. "Please?"

"No."

"No?" Kurt was surprised by the finality of the statement and how quickly his dad said it, "Why?"

"I just don't think it would be a good idea." His dad replied gruffly.

"We don't really know the boy Kurt." Carole said, laying a placating hand on his shoulder. "And you don't either. Try to look at things from our perspective. We're just worried."

_We're just worried _Kurt felt cold as he shot a look to Finn who was looking any where but him. "What did you tell them?"

"Don't blame Finn." His dad warned.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Kurt put the last plate down with a little more force than necessary and took his seat.

"Don't be upset Kurt." Carole said softly. "I know you were excited about meeting someone who was… of the same persuasion as you. But… sweetheart, we don't-"

"Trust me to know what I'm doing."

"Kurt." Burt snapped. "Don't act that way."

"So you're telling me that's not true?"

Carole sighed. "Finn told us-"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "That's a surprise."

"Kurt."

Kurt looked down. "Sorry. I'm sorry dad."

"You knew we would say no. That's why you tried to lie to us." Burt's frown softened. "You're still a kid. And you still see the best in people. I cannot let you go out of town for a weekend with a boy I don't know."

"We'll be in school. It's not like-"

Burt crossed his arms, but his eyes looked sympathetic. "Look, next time he's in town, have him over for dinner. Then maybe next time I can say yes." He caught Kurt's chin and made him look at him. "Alright?"

Kurt closed his eyes in defeat and nodded. " Yeah. Sure."

They all missed Finn's small smile of triumph.

**Chapter 10: Things are looking up**

A/N: I've got a couple of comments about not wanting to hate Burt and Carole… So if you feel that way, don't read the first part of this chapter. Just scroll down till you see the bold **xxx**

Burt made his way down to Kurt's bedroom quietly but pause in the middle of the stairway when he heard his son sniffling.

"_They said no."_

Burt realized Kurt was on the phone and sat on the stair to listen.

"_They might have a point but they wouldn't have done the same if it had been Finn wanting to go with Rachel."_

"_It is the same."_

"_I don't care. And Finn had no right to-"_

Burt heard Kurt heave a large sigh.

"_I know."_

"_I know Winter Break is only a few months away."_

"_Yes we have im."_

"_And Skype."_

"_And phones. I know I know. I just-"_

Another sigh.

"_Yeah…"_

Burt was surprised when Kurt started giggling.

"_No, it's fine. Go take a shower. You do kind of smell."_

And then Kurt started full on laughing and Burt realized it had been awhile since he'd heard that sound.

"_Of course I can tell from here. It's one of my many powers. And there are stink lines wafting from my phone."_

_"Wouldn't hurt if you brushed your teeth too, dragon breath."_

_"Sam told me."_

Kurt burst out laughing again.

_Alright. Goodnight"_

Burt stood up quickly because he knew that if Kurt got off the bed he'd be in full view, and that would most definitely make his son mad. He stomped down the rest of the steps so when he got there Kurt had a book out and was pretending to be reading.

"You're holding the book upside down."

Kurt looked panicked and checked the cover to discover it had been right side up. He glared at his dad when he chuckled.

Burt came and sat by his son on the bed and sobered up. "I know you're upset Kurt-"

Kurt cut him off. "I understand dad."

"I know you think you do. And I know you're mad at Finn, but Carole and I would have said no even if Finn hadn't said anything."

"But Finn telling you about Blaine didn't help." Kurt replied sullenly.

"Not your case. No." Burt put a hand over Kurt's shoulder and pulled him into a one armed hug. "You lying to us didn't help either. You knew the answer before you asked. Finn did the right thing."

"I really wanted to go." Kurt pulled away and grabbed his laptop, opening a webpage. "I've been looking at Dalton. It sounds perfect. Blaine doesn't get picked on because he's gay. They've got a great arts program. It's considered one of the best schools in Ohio-"

"You want to transfer?" Burt asked in surprise.

"Maybe."

"What about your friends here? And glee and cheerios?"

"I've got Azimo and Karofsky as well." _And Finn _Kurt added mentally. "I've only been thinking about it a little."

"Would you even be thinking about it if it wasn't for Blaine?"

"He may have been one of the starting factors, perhaps, but now that I've been actually doing some research I think it might be a good option for me."

"Kurt, I know…" Burt ran a hand across his face and sighed, "I know you haven't been telling me everything that happens at school. And if you tell me that the kids have made you feel like you were ever in danger, even for a second, I'd transfer you to anywhere you'd want to go in heartbeat. But you have to understand why I'm skeptical right now of your reasons for wanting to transfer."

"I'm not sure if I want to transfer. I just think that maybe it might be an option."

"Did Blaine ask you to come up next weekend?"

Kurt paused. "Yes."

Burt was silent for a moment. "I- I can't say yes to that Kurt. "

"I understand."

"But why don't you get me some of the literature about this fancy school, and we'll see if that's a place you're actually interested in."

Kurt looked surprised, but nodded eagerly. "Alright."

"And about Blaine."

The smile dropped off Kurt's face. "Yes?"

"I heard you laugh when I was coming down the stairs."

"I was talking to Mer-" Kurt bit his lip. "He's a funny guy."

"I just need you to be careful."

"He's just a friend. And I know what I'm doing. He's never suggested anything."

"I know you think you know what you're doing Kurt. But Finn's got a more experienced perspective on guys' motivations. You might not think Blaine is pressuring you into anything-"

"Finn is not concerned about my virtue." Kurt snapped.

"He's looking out for you. I think maybe you should cut him a little slack."

Kurt's eyes bugged out as he stared at his father in disbelief, but Burt didn't notice.

"I'm glad you made a friend, but Finn is really concerned that he's going to take advantage of the fact that he's the only guy you met who's… you know, gay." Burt looked at his son. "I want you to be happy, but I need you to be safe too. You're a smart kid, but you can let your emotions carry you away sometimes."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Just don't get too wrapped up in this guy."

"I won't."

"And don't be too angry with Finn". Burt put a hand on Kurt arm and squeezed gently. "If anything had happened would you have told us?"

Kurt didn't wince when his father squeezed the area where his bruise was. "Of course dad."

**XXX**

"Kurt!"

Kurt looked up surprised. "Sam."

"Wanna hang out this weekend?"

Kurt paused, "what?"

"Mom is starting a book club, so a bunch of old ladies are going to be at my house on Saturday, and if I don't have a friend over I might be forced to hang out with them."

"So I'm going to be your cover then."

Sam shrugged. "Well, it'll be fun to hang out too."

"How many people did you ask before you asked me?" Kurt asked suspiciously.

"No one. Why?"

"I was your first choice for someone to hang out with?"

"Yeah." Sam frowned at Kurt's tone. "We are friends right? You weren't just hanging out with me because I had a hot friend. I thought once I transferred that would stop happening."

"We are friends." Kurt agreed quickly and then paused. "What do you mean 'that would stop happening?'"

"Never mind." Sam waved his hand dismissively. "So, pizza and video games?"

Kurt bit his lip and nodded. "I'll ask my dad."

"Awesome." Sam grinned. "Come around 1-ish?"

"I'll try." Kurt smiled back.

He most certainly did not hum happy tunes under his breath the rest of the day. No matter what Mercedes said.

**Chapter 11: Why won't you listen?**

Kurt had been trying to figure out the best way to talk to his father all day, given his dad's new apparent reluctance to let him socialize with boys his own age, and had thought he had finally came up with the perfectly worded request to ask his dad to let him go over to Sam's.

"Dad? A completely straight non-homophobic boy who I have absolutely no romantic interest in whatsoever invited me over to his house this Saturday. He was the quarterback who replaced Finn and you met him once. Is it alright if I go?"

"What's his name?"

"Sam."

"The duet kid?"

Kurt bit his lip, damn. "He invited me."

Carole asked as she entered the living room with a laundry basket. She'd been coming over to do some of the household chores for a few weeks now, and for that Kurt was incredibly grateful. She was delusional if she ever thought she was going to set foot in his kitchen though. "Sam Evans?"

"Yes."

She brightened, "Oh, I'm going to his mother's book club on Saturday."

Kurt grinned and shot his dad a pleading look. "Perfect. Carole will be there. So I can go?"

"You act like I was automatically going to say no." Burt frowned

Kurt looked away. "I wasn't sure."

"Of course you can go." Kurt restrained himself from jumping up and down, and with a quick 'thank you' went downstairs to do his homework.

xxx

They'd been playing video games for about an hour before Kurt finally asked what had been on his mind since Blaine had left. "What was Dalton like?"

Sam shrugged. "It was school. Really different from McKinley though. It was nice. The kids there were a lot less… catty? there."

"Why'd you transfer?"

"We moved to a town that actually had a decent school nearby. I think my parents are realizing I'm going to be going to college soon, and they want to have me around as much as possible."

"Do you miss it?"

"Yeah. But I haven't been here long enough to give it a chance." Sam focused on what his character on the screen was doing for a few minutes before asking, "Why?"

"No reason."

"Are you thinking of transferring?"

Kurt nodded but didn't take his eyes from the screen. "A little."

"It'll suck if you did."

Kurt spun to stare at him. "What?"

"Well, that would be another friend that's over there while I'm stuck here." Sam was still focused on the tv.

"I wouldn't want to put you out."

"Just saying."

"I know." Kurt smiled softly. "Thanks."

Sam turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "For what?"

"Never mind." Kurt pushed a button on his controller. "HAH!"

"Shit!" Sam cursed as he moved his character behind a rock. "Where'd you get the rocket launcher? Not cool."

"Bow down to my superior firepower!" Kurt fired again this time getting closer to his target.

"You're screen peeking."

"Am not. I'm using the little radar in the corner. Just because you suck..."

"Totally screen peeking. Dammit!" Sam threw down his controller when his character lost his last life and the Game Over flashed across the screen.

xxx

"Why were you over at Sam's this weekend?"

"None of your business Finn." Kurt walked quickly down the empty school hall towards his locker, he'd had Cheerios and Finn had had Football practice after school and now the building was practically deserted. "He invited me."

"Why?"

"Because there are actually people who want to be friends with me." Kurt stopped at his locker and started putting in the combo. "I know it is a hard concept for you to understand."

"Please don't be like that."

"Like what?" "I'm not being like anything."

"You're being all defensivy and stuff."

Kurt raised an eyebrow. "Strange. I'd have absolutely no reason to be acting like that."

"I was just curious how it went."

"No. You wanted to know why I went." Kurt slammed his locker shut. "It went fine. We played video games. We ate pizza. We avoided a group of 12 middle-aged women with skill that would have made James Bond proud. The Sean Connery version. Not Daniel Craig."

"Uh… good."

Kurt straightened his bag. "Do you have a ride home?"

"No." Finn scuffed his shoe on the floor. "I was going to ask you."

"Fine."

"Thanks man." He followed the younger boy. "I'm glad you had fun at Sam's."

Kurt gave Finn a strange look before nodding.

"What are you doing this weekend?"

Kurt stiffened his shoulders. "I'm going to Dalton."

"I thought Burt said you couldn't spend the night."

"He did. But we talked it out. And we are going for the day. He'll be coming up with me to see some of the presentations they give for parents considering the school, and I'll get to check out a bit of what Dalton life is like."

"And hang out with Blaine." Finn added.

Kurt kept a carefully schooled expression on his face. "He is a plus. But he's not the main reason I want to go anymore."

"Wait… you want to transfer?"

"I'm giving it some consideration."

"What about glee?"

"It's not like I sing anything important. You could easily get someone to replace me." Kurt started walking a little quicker. "If worst comes to worse you could always bribe Jacob with another pair of Rachel's underwear to sway in the background again."

Finn shoved Kurt against the lockers. "Don't talk about Rachel like that."

"I wasn't talking about Rachel-" Kurt stopped when he saw Finn's face. "I wasn't trying to be rude about her. I'm sorry."

Finn didn't look completely appeased but he backed off.

"My point was only that glee will be fine without me."

"Does your dad understand why you want to transfer?"

"I want to transfer because of the bullying here. Dalton doesn't have that."

"And Blaine-"

"Has nothing to do with me wanting to transfer." Kurt huffed. "I wouldn't dump my friends here and leave home for a guy I just met. No matter how desperate you think I am." Kurt stopped and turned to face Finn. "Though I suppose if you're worried you could always tell my dad more about how Blaine is going to manipulate and take advantage of me."

"I never-"

"I know you did. I know you talked to dad and Carole about Blaine. And fine. Maybe at first you were honestly doing it out of concern. But you keep doing it." Kurt sighed. "And that is part of why I should transfer. If you can't get over your latent homophobia it's going to put unnecessary stress on our parents' relationship. It makes sense to get rid of one part of the problem." Kurt took a deep breath and continued. "You're the better choice to stay here, as you're more socially acceptable. It's easier for everyone. And I will be happier at Dalton. So I suggest you stop harassing me about this." He turned to walk away but Finn grabbed his arm. "You need to stop grabbing me."

"Stop trying to run away." Finn ground out.

Kurt was being unreasonable and not listening, and now he was trying to leave, and that wasn't right, he wasn't supposed to leave. He could be less gay and stuff, but he wasn't supposed to actually leave. Glee needed him. And he'd totally be abandoning his dad, and Kurt was supposed to be one of his friends. Blaine was tricking him, and Kurt just couldn't see it. Now Kurt was totally falling into Blaine's trap, and the bastard has made Kurt think it was all his own idea, and why couldn't he see it but Finn could? And Kurt just wouldn't stop with the jabs and the haughty looks and he just keeps trying to get away… its enough to make anybody angry. Why won't he listen?

"Just keep away from me you stupid oaf." Kurt shoved Finn away.

Finn looked just as shocked as Kurt when he realized he had hit the smaller boy. He hadn't even realized he'd done it until Kurt was on the floor clutching his face.

"Oh god Kurt. I'm… I'm so sorry." He reached down to help Kurt up.

Kurt flinched away. "Don't touch me."

"I'm so sorry." Finn grabbed his arm and started to pull him up.

"Let go of me." Kurt twisted violently, wrenching himself free but ending up back on the floor. "Just- just go to hell Finn Hudson."

"Jesus Kurt, I'm so sorry." Finn ran a hand through his hair. "Please don't tell Mom."

"I won't. Because I'm not going to ruin their wedding." Kurt pulled himself up.

"Thank you." Finn said gratefully. "Kurt I'm so sorry." He reached a hand out.

Kurt took a step out of reach. "Don't you ever touch me again."

"I won't. I won't. I promise."

"Hey guys."

Both boys looked up in surprise to see Sam standing at the end of the hallway.

"Sam." Kurt breathed out.

"Uh…" Sam looked suspiciously between the two of them, "What's going on?"

"Nothing." Kurt replied quickly.

"What happened to your eye?"

"This stupid idiot elbowed me in the face by accident."

Finn was too surprised to respond quickly. "Yeah." He finally managed to say.

Kurt straightened. "Sam, Finn needs a ride, and I'm heading to the mall. Do you think you could possibly-"

Sam frowned but nodded anyway. "Yeah sure. It's on my way anyway."

"Thanks." Kurt shot one last look at Finn before walking away.

**Chapter 12: It's not up for discussion**

"Hey kid. How was practice?" Burt walked out of the kitchen as Kurt entered the house. He frowned when he saw Kurt was alone. "Where's Finn?"

Kurt kept his head ducked down and worked to keep his voice even. "He caught a ride with Sam instead."

"Why?" Kurt shrugged and started to make a move to go to the basement, but Burt realized something was up and moved to block him. "Look at me."

Kurt paused and reluctantly looked up. Burt sucked in a breath.

"Jesus kid. What the hell happened?"

"Nothing." Kurt tried for a smile and ended up with a grimace. "An accident at practice."

"Bullshit." Burt grabbed Kurt's chin so he could take a better look at the nice large bruise that was forming on Kurt's face. "Someone hit you. And I know none of the cheerios have hands that big."

"It's nothing dad."

"Don't give me that. Goddamnit Kurt. Do not give me that. Who hit you?"

Kurt looked away. "Please…"

Burt was starting to get worked up. "I'm going to school first thing in the morning, and I'm bringing my flame-"

"No." Kurt said firmly. "You're not. Just leave it alone."

"How can you tell me to leave it alone?" Burt demanded.

"You cannot get stressed out Dad. Please. It was just someone at school." Kurt pulled out of his dad's grip and tried to keep the tears from welling in his eyes. "I don't want to make trouble."

"Was it one of the glee club boys?"

"No." Kurt averted his eyes, it wasn't really a lie, Finn didn't really count as one of the glee club boys anymore right?

"Kurt…" Burt pleaded.

A tear escaped. He was not going to rat out Finn and risk his dad's relationship with Carole. Not after the basement incident. But he couldn't let his dad stress out about it either. However he couldn't figure out the best way to convince his dad to let it go. "Please Dad. Don't."

Burt sighed in defeat. If Kurt thought that taking any action against his aggressor would stress his heart, Kurt would not say anything. And Burt was not stupid. If he were to make a scene it could very well make things much worse for Kurt if he didn't cooperate. "I'm going to school tomorrow-"

"Dad-"

"And I'm pulling you out."

Kurt looked shocked. "What? But-"

"It's not up for discussion. Unless you want to tell me who did it." Kurt hesitated before shaking his head. Burt nodded. "That's it then."

xxx

"What happened to Kurt?"

"I elbowed him in the face on accident."

Sam threw him a look. "What really happened?"

"It was an accident." Finn closed his eyes. "I really really didn't mean to."

"Bullshit." Sam scoffed. "Football practice. I know what it looks like when someone gets elbowed in the face. That was not what happened to Kurt."

Finn hung his head, defeated. He wasn't exactly known for his ability to hold out under pressure. "I didn't elbow him." He admitted. "But it was an accident. It just… happened."

"What happened?"

"I hit him. He just wouldn't stop. And he just doesn't understand. He wouldn't listen. And now he's talking about transferring." Finn paused realizing who he was talking to. Sam was kind of biased against him in this situation. "I didn't even know it had happened until he was on the ground. And I feel like shit, and I don't know how to make it right. But I will." Finn looked down at his hands. "I will make it right."

"Maybe you should just leave him alone."

"I can't."

xxx

"Mr. Shue, if I may?"

Mr. Shue had been thinking of the best way to approach Kurt. Even though the boy had put make up over it, the bruise around his eye was glaringly obvious. Wordlessly he handed the floor to Kurt.

"I'm under no delusions that you haven't noticed…" He waved at his face "… this."

Fin shifted in his seat, as far as he knew Kurt had not told their parents about what he had done, but was that because Kurt decided to out him to the whole glee club?

"And I'm absolutely not interested in talking about it." Kurt took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm sorry to say that this will be the last time I will be joining you in glee club, or even walking down these hallowed halls of McKinley.

The club erupted in a mixture of exclamations and demands for explanations. Finn was silent. He glanced around and saw Sam and Mercedes were also not shouting. Mercedes didn't even look remotely surprised, and Finn realized Kurt must have already told her. Kurt told her but didn't bother to tell him. He wasn't even all that close to Mercedes anymore, but they were about to become stepbrothers, and he had to find out with the rest of the club?

Kurt raised his hand to quiet everyone. "I'm sorry. But my father, with whom I fully agree, believes that it is no longer a healthy option for me to continue my enrollment in this school. Today is my last day."

Rachel stood up. "Sectionals are just around the corner and you're leaving us? You can't."

"My father is putting my personal health and safety as priority to the needs of the glee club. You can find someone else to do my part.

"Where are you going to go?" Tina asked quietly.

"Dalton."

Rachel frowned. "But you're not going to join the Warblers right?"

Kurt straightened and squared his shoulders. "I haven't decided yet."

"You're going to compete against us?"

"I said," Kurt replied coolly, "I haven't decided yet."

"We're going to miss you." Sam finally said.

Kurt smiled softly back at him. "I'm going to miss all of you too."

**Chapter 13: New beginnings**

**Alohamora:** So why do I get to hear from Sam that you are planning to come to Dalton and not from you?

**Nightcrawler:** Things have been rather hectic here. I'm sorry. I was going to tell you.

**Alohamora:** I know. I was just teasing.

**Alohamora:** Sam said it was because Finn hit you.

**Nightcrawler:** Finn didn't hit me.

**Alohamora:** Finn told Sam he did.

**Nightcrawler:** It wasn't a big deal.

**Alohamora: **Wasn't a big deal my ass. Have you told your dad?

**Nightcrawler:** I'm not going to. He doesn't need the stress on his heart or his relationship with Carole.

**Alohamora:** You know there is a difference between being noble and self-sacrificing and being a complete idiot? He hit you.

**Nightcrawler:** It's never going to happen again. Besides, I've been shoved into lockers, thrown into dumpsters, and slushied all throughout my highschool career so far. I can handle this.

**Alohamora:** I think we both know that this is very different. This isn't some passing bully who you won't have to ever see again once you get out of school. Finn's about to become your brother. And based off of what you've told me he's been getting worse.

**Nightcrawler:** I think we've reached the peak. He's not going to do anything to me again.

**Alohamora:** But what if you're wrong?

**Nightcrawler:** I'm not. He would never actually hurt me. And anyway, it's become a moot point now that I'm out of school.

**Nightcrawler:** I don't want to talk about it anymore. What should I pack for Dalton?

xxx

Kurt flailed as he was pulled into a bone-crushing hug by Carole

"I'm going to miss you so much dear." She let go of him so she could look into his eyes. "Are you sure you have everything you need?"

Kurt nodded. "Thanks Carole."

She pulled him back in for a much gentler hug, which Kurt returned. "I'm so sorry things at school got this bad."

"You don't have anything to be sorry for. And Dalton is only two hours away, I'm going to be coming back for all the breaks, its not like you guys won't ever be seeing me again." Kurt broke the hug. "I'm worried about Dad though."

"I'll be here everyday. And when the extension is done Finn and I will be moving in. We'll keep an eye on for him for you."

"Make sure he doesn't sneak in anything that is not on his approved diet list. And I printed out all the recipes that I use. I highlighted the ones he likes, and put a sticker on the ones that he needs to eat anyway. There's a list on the fridge on how to use everything in the kitchen and I labeled where everything goes. And-"

"Sweetheart, I know my way around a kitchen."

_Not around mine you don't,_ Kurt pulled away. "I know, I just- worry."

She put a gentle hand on his face, "I know you do. You worry too much sweetheart." Her eyes focused on the bruise that remained prominent on his face and her eyes darkened with barely concealed anger at whoever dared hurt the young man she now considered her son and she hugged him a third time. "You worry so much about everyone else. You're going to watch out for yourself right?"

"Of course."

"And if anyone, anyone, gives you a hard time, you are going to tell us. Right?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry I can't go with you to drop you off."

"It's alright. You have work."

She pressed a kiss to his forehead and let him go. Burt came into the living room.

"Ready kid?"

Kurt nodded. It was hard to believe it was only a week ago that his dad declared he was being pulled out of McKinley. He knew it was unusual for a school to accept him so late in the semester, and he didn't think about what his dad must have done to convince them to let him in, mostly because he didn't want to think about how much his father might have raised his blood pressure with threatening various school officials from both schools. Now he was heading off to Dalton, for a fresh new start.

He hadn't spoken more than ten words, yes he had counted, to Finn since his announcement in glee. He hated to admit that he wasn't that all disappointed by this. It had made dealing with everything else a lot easier.

Speak of the devil. Finn strolled in behind Burt.

"I thought you had football." Kurt couldn't stop himself from blurting out. "What are you doing here?

Finn looked hurt. "I came to say goodbye. I wasn't going to miss you leaving. The Beiste understood."

"I see." Kurt plastered on a smile. "Well, goodbye."

"Do you want to come with us to drop Kurt off Finn?" Burt asked.

Kurt desperately tried to catch Finn's eye to warn him off, but Finn didn't look his direction. "Sure."

Kurt managed to keep his smile from slipping, barely. "Great. Well are we ready to go?"

xxx

The ride was not as uncomfortable as Kurt had expected with Finn joining them. Finn remained silent the whole time and his father spent most of the time reminding him that if he ever wanted to come home, for any reason, he was not to hesitate to call. Kurt spent the remainder of the time reminding his dad of all the things he had to do to take care of himself after his heart attack.

They pulled up in front of the main building and Finn broke his silence by letting out a low whistle.

"Wow." He gaped as he opened the car door and stepped out, "this is like something from Harry Potter."

Kurt couldn't help it if he sounded a bit dreamy as he climbed out of the car and looked out at the school grounds. "Yeah."

"It's pretty awesome."

"It's kind of totally awesome." A voice said from behind them.

Kurt spun around. "Blaine!" He grinned. He turned to his dad who was looking at Blaine with suspicion. "Dad. This is Blaine."

"Pleased to meet you Sir." Blaine offered his hand, which Burt took. "Properly I mean. Since we met when Sam and I picked up Kurt that one time, but-" Kurt cleared his throat to indicate that Blaine should probably stop talking. Blaine nodded. "We're very excited to have Kurt joining us. And I think he's going to be very happy here. We're going to make sure he feels welcome and accepted here."

"I bet _you'll_ certainly do your part." Finn muttered, and the tone of his voice left no doubt about what he was asking about.

Blaine looked at Finn, with a carefully neutral look on his face. "Dalton is a very inclusive community, and we want all our students to feel at home." He smiled at Kurt. "I'm supposed to show you where you're going to be living. Can I help with some of your stuff?"

xxx

"Ok kid." Burt put a hand on his son's shoulder. "Think you're all set?"

"I am dad." Kurt nodded. He was surprised at the lump he felt in the back of his throat and how his eyes were welling. This was a happy time. He _was_ happy. Why did he feel like crying?

He was going to be away from his dad for the first time in his life. And yes they had skype, and yes Dalton was only a couple hours away, and yes he was going to be seeing them soon for winter break… but he wasn't going to be living with them anymore. His dad was going to be alone… at least until they finished Finn's extension. He was leaving his dad.

He hated Finn for hitting him, making his dad decide to transfer him. He hated himself for wanting to transfer. He was leaving his dad. Because Finn was selfish. Because he was selfish.

What happened last time he was selfish? Last time he was selfish he picked the Sound of Music sing-along over Friday family dinner. And then his dad had a heart attack. This time… he was leaving his dad.

Burt pulled him into a hug. "I'm going to miss you Kurt."

Kurt was not going to cry. He was not going to cry.

"It's been the two of us for a long time."

Still not going to cry.

"But this is going to be for the best."

Maybe if he just told his dad what happened between him and Finn he could go back to McKinley, and then he wouldn't be leaving his dad.

"And you're going to be happy here, right?"

He could say no. He could say no right now and they'll go back home. And he wouldn't be leaving his dad. "Yes."

Burt gave one last squeeze and let him go. "Finn and I better be heading back then. Before it gets dark."

Kurt didn't trust his voice, so he nodded.

Burt took one deep breath and let it out slowly. "I love you so much. And I'm so proud of you. Remember that."

"I love you too dad."

Burt smiled and patted Kurt on the shoulder and walked out.

He was not going to cry.

He was not going to cry.

He really wasn't…


	4. Chapter 14 through 17

**Chapter 14: Everything will be okay**

"And this is the dining hall." Blaine spread his arms wide to indicate the room. It was like a scene from Harry Potter, it was a huge grand hall with several long old carved tables and a bunch of boys in uniform sitting in groups scattered around. "C'mon, lets grab our food." Blaine took Kurt's hand and guided him down to the serving line.

xxx

"Finn…" Burt bit his lip as they drove back to Lima. "Do you know what happened to Kurt? Who hit him?"

Oh god. Burt was suspicious. And he was going to wrangle the confession out of him and then leave him on the side of the road to die. Oh god. Finn looked at Burt with wide eyes, but only saw general concern in his eyes. Maybe Burt didn't know. "Kurt hasn't told me anything." Finn said, hoping his voice wasn't shaking too much. It was true though. Kurt hadn't talked to him since he'd announced he was leaving.

"But maybe one of the boys in the locker room after practice said something?"

Finn shook his head. "After… after I've gotten closer to Kurt, the guys don't really let me hear anything."

Burt nodded with a small frown on his face. "I know being close to Kurt has made things difficult for you. And… well aside from what happened last year, I'm really thankful that you've handled it so maturely."

Part of Finn was overwhelmed with guilt and the desire to admit what happened. The part of him that wanted to survive won out though. "Kurt is a friend. We're going to be brothers."

"I'm glad he's going to Dalton." Burt said, a surprising lack of doubt in his voice. "He's going to be happy there. He's going to be safe there." He shook his head. "I'm going to miss him though. You know, it's just been the two of us for a long time."

There comes another wave of guilt, Finn thought. "Well, mom and I will be moving in soon."

"Yeah."

It wasn't the same. Finn knew that. And he hated that he'd messed up so badly. Now Blaine had 24/7 access to his almost brother, and he was not going to be able to protect Kurt. He needed to find a way to fix things, but he had no idea how. Rachel might know. She was pissed that Kurt had abandoned them so close to sectionals. She might jump at the opportunity to get Kurt back. And she was good at scheming.

Yeah. He'll talk to Rachel.

Burt might think that Kurt was safer at Dalton, but he just didn't understand. He wasn't able to see how obsessed Kurt could get with his crushes. And Burt obviously had been won over by Blaine's gentlemanly act. Finn saw through it though.

He'll fix things.

Everything will be okay.

xxx

They ended up sitting with a bunch of the other Warblers. Kurt was shocked that the boys not only did not find his high pitched voice something to mock and deride, but were actually extremely enthusiastic to have someone who had his vocal range. They thought he was funny. They seemed actually interested in what he said. They were genuinely friendly.

It was all Kurt could do to keep from bursting into tears.

"You okay Kurt?" Blaine asked as they headed back to the dorms.

"Is this place for real?"

Blaine frowned. "Something wrong? Do you already hate it here?"

"No." Kurt shook his head quickly. "No, it's not that. It's just… everyone here is so… nice."

"Ah." Blaine nodded with mock sageness. "I can see how that can make anyone ready to cry."

"I'm not going to cry." Kurt snapped. "I just meant- you wouldn't understand."

Blaine sobered. "I understand a lot more than you think Kurt." He put an arm around Kurt's shoulders as they walked along. "It should be a given that people will treat you with respect and I hate that it comes as a shock to you that people can actually be civil and friendly."

Kurt looked down.

"You know the Warblers are having a meeting tomorrow if you want to come… check it out… audition…" Blaine aimed for nonchalant, but wasn't quite getting it.

Kurt gaped at him, "I can't audition. I don't have anything ready."

Blaine laughed. "Kurt, you could sing Happy Birthday, and you'd be in. We can already tell you can sing." He nudged Kurt gently. "You have to have a song up your sleeve that you can pull out for us."

"I- I don't know."

"What do you mean?"

"The Warblers are going up against New Directions in Sectionals."

Blaine winced. "Ah."

"I don't know if I could-"

"Well you could just not sing at Sectionals."

"What?"

"The Warblers do a lot of concerts and performances besides sectionals. We're not all that obsessed when it comes to going to Nationals. We're just having fun. So you could just… not participate when we go to sectionals. Coach will understand." Blaine smiled encouragingly. "Please join us though? We really really could use you."

"I'll try to find a song."

Blaine beamed as the stopped in front of the door to Kurt's room. "Fantastic." A silence settled between them as neither boy really wanted to leave, but neither knew what to say.

"I guess… I should be going to bed now."

"Right…" Blaine stepped out of the way so Kurt could open the door. "You're really lucky you ended up with a single. Only seniors get singles."

"It's pretty nice." Kurt agreed. "A lot more closet space than I was led to believe."

"Yeah. And you know where the bathrooms are right?"

"Down the hall, third door to the left. You showed me earlier."

"Right… well… goodnight."

Kurt smiled softly. "Goodnight."

xxx

When he finished the last note of Defying Gravity he looked around at the stunned faces of the silent boys sitting in the room. He blushed. He knew he shouldn't have picked such a girly song. Blaine had said that Dalton was all about tolerance and acceptance, but there was only so far one could push. And Kurt was new, there were limits on what he could get away with. He should have known better, but it had been the first song that had popped into his head as a way to show off his upper register. He'd wanted to be able to do it in front of an audience right, without being forced to blow any of the notes. He'd been stupid. Stupid stupid stu-

One boy started clapping.

The rest soon followed.

Blaine stood up, a huge smile on his face. "Kurt. Welcome to the Warblers."

Kurt looked at him wide eyed. "What?"

"That was amazing Kurt. Absolutely amazing. You just-" Blaine made a waved his hands to express how blown away he was. "I had no idea. And I've heard you sing before."

There were a lot of calls of agreement from the other Warblers. Kurt blushed again, this time with pleasure and ducked his head. They liked him. They appreciated his talent.

Blaine had his arm across his shoulders again, and he could feel the warmth of his body through the layers of cloth.

Yeah, he could get used to this.

Everything just might be okay.

**Chapter 15: One condition**

Kurt singing, **Blaine singing**

_Five hundred twenty-five thousand_

_Six hundred minutes,_

_Five hundred twenty-five thousand_

_Moments so dear._

_Five hundred twenty-five thousand_

_Six hundred minutes_

_How do you measure, measure a year?_

_In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights_

_In cups of coffee_

_In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife._

_In five hundred twenty-five thousand_

_Six hundred minutes_

_How do you measure_

_A year in the life?_

_How about love?_

_How about love?_

_How about love? Measure in love_

_Seasons of love. Seasons of love_

**Five hundred twenty-five thousand**

**Six hundred minutes!**

**Five hundred twenty-five thousand**

**Journeys to plan.**

**Five hundred twenty-five thousand**

**Six hundred minutes**

**How do you measure the life**

**Of a woman or a man?**

In truths that she learned,

Or in times that he cried.

In bridges he burned,

Or the way that she died.

_It's time now to sing out,_

_Tho' the story never ends_

_Let's celebrate_

_Remember a year in the life of friends_

_Remember the love!_

_Remember the love!_

_Seasons of love!_

**Oh you got to got to**

**Remember the love!**

**You know that love is a gift from up above**

**Share love, give love spread love**

**Measure measure your life in love.**

The lights faded and the curtain dropped. Kurt held his breath as he waited. The auditorium exploded in applause. He turned and smiled at Blaine who winked and gave him a thumbs up. They both turned forward when the curtain went back up and the Warblers stepped out to take their bows.

Blaine could feel Kurt practically thrumming with excitement next to him. It was their fall concert and Kurt's first one with the Warblers. As they walked off the stage he leaned in, "You were great."

Kurt blushed. "You didn't sound to bad yourself."

Blaine huffed a laugh and took Kurt's hand as they made their way to take a seat in the auditorium to listen to the headmaster address the school before setting them free for thanksgiving break.

xxx

"You'll come for the wedding?" Kurt asked Blaine for the eighth time. Today.

"I said I would didn't I?"

Kurt nodded. "Sorry. It's just… it's going to be this weekend. And there is still so much to be done-"

"I thought you've been arranging it every free moment that you had."

"I have."

Blaine raised an eyebrow. "And there's still more to be done?"

"I haven't gotten the seating charts just right yet."

"I think you're putting more into this wedding than Carole is."

"It's important."

"I know it is." Blaine smiled indulgently.

"You know if you don't want to come you don't actually have to." Kurt said suddenly looking down at the ground.

Blaine shrugged. "Ok."

Kurt snapped up so quickly Blaine was sure he heard a snap. "What?"

"I'm not going to come."

"Oh." Kurt looked completely emotionless. "Ok."

Blaine shook his head, "Unless you meet one tiny condition." Blaine leaned in and whispered into Kurt's ear, "Introduce me as your boyfriend."

"W-what?" Kurt looked completely stunned.

"Introduce me as your boyfriend." As Kurt continued to do an excellent goldfish impression the smile fell of Blaine's face as he realized that he must have misread their entire relationship and was putting Kurt into a terrible position. "Shit, Kurt. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to push you. If- well I thought that you would like-"

"Ok." Kurt cut him off quietly.

"What?"

Kurt met his eyes. "I'll do it."

"No Kurt. You don't have to. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-" Kurt grabbed his shirt and pulled him into a searing kiss. Blaine was too stunned to respond at first, but as he realized that Kurt was pulling away he surged forward and took charge of the kiss, capturing Kurt's mouth in his.

"Finally." One of the Warblers, David, said as they entered the room, making Kurt and Blaine jump away from each other like they were on fire. Another, Wes, gave a wolf whistle. "Who won the pool?"

"Jeff." Wes replied mournfully as he pulled out a tattered piece of paper. "I was so close too. "Tom got the scenario right though."

Kurt gaped at them. "You were betting on us?"

"Yeah. The tension between the two of you has been just this side of unbearable. If one of you hadn't made an actual move before we actually left for break we were going to lock the two of you in one of the closets with a bottle of lube and not let you out until it was empty." David grinned.

Kurt and Blaine both turned rather interesting colors of scarlet and sputtered indignantly.

"Oh don't look at us like that." Wes laughed. "Don't even try to tell us that you haven't wanted to jump each other's bones since you first met."

"Why in the world has it taken the two of you so long?"

Blaine saw that Kurt looked like he wanted nothing more than for the ground to open up and swallow him and he shot a warning look at Wes and David to stop teasing.

Wes nodded. "We're just relieved you two got your act together. You guys are so adorable together."

"Adorable?" Blaine spluttered.

"More like adorkable." David amended. He motioned to Wes that it was time for them to leave.

"Sorry for the cockblock." Wes said with a smile as they walked out.

Blaine turned to Kurt and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry for those two. Ignore them. They mean well, but they haven't seen their girlfriends since fall break."

Kurt gave Blaine a small shy smile. "I don't think I've been more mortified in my life."

"Well, at least we gave them a good show right?"

Kurt blushed and looked down again.

"You're not regretting it already are you?"

Kurt shook his head. "I'm just wondering what the likely hood is that they're actually just sitting behind the door waiting for us to try again."

"Want to find out?" Blaine's hand moved to the back of Kurt's neck.

Kurt bit his lip. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt."

xxx

Burt watched his kid make his way towards them across the crowded front yard of the school. Kurt was smiling. Hell he was practically glowing. Burt felt a warmth rise in him. He'd talked to Kurt a lot on the phone, and had attempted to make Skype work, but seeing his son in flesh showed him just how much he had changed.

"Do they feed you here?" Carole demanded as she looked over her soon to be stepson critically. "It's like there's nothing left of you."

"I've gained weight!" Kurt protested. He sent a death glare at Blaine , who was standing by his own parents a little distance away and looking like he was doing his best not to burst out laughing.

"You're still too skinny dear."

Kurt resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"You look good kid." Burt finally said rescuing him from Carole's scrutiny.

"Thanks dad." He looked around. "Finn didn't come up?"

"He is on a date with Rachel."

"Ah." Kurt tried to not look relieved. "Well, I think I have everything. Ready to go?"

**Chapter 16: Get out**

"So a tell us everything about school. What's been going on?" Carole sat down on the living room couch and patted the seat next to her.

Kurt smiled indulgently but took the offered place. "I talk to you guys every night."

"But that's on the phone sweetheart."

Kurt sighed and thought back over the event that happened since last time they talked. "Well… we performed at the school assembly yesterday. And…" He trailed off, he really wanted to tell them what had happened, but he wasn't sure if he should just yet.

"And?"

"BlaineandIbecameofficial." It all came out in a rush.

Burt frowned. "What?"

"Blaine and I became official."

"Official what?"

"Burt." Carole warned.

"We're in a relationship. Since yesterday."

"Oh Kurt… are you-" Carole started, after what Finn had said she wasn't entirely sure about the boy Kurt would gush about on the phone.

"We've practically been dating since I started at Dalton. It's just yesterday that we actually… did anything about it." Kurt replied defensively.

"What exactly did you do?" Burt asked. Kurt sighed, he really shouldn't have worded it that way. Of course that would be what his father would focus on.

"We acknowledged our mutual attraction."

"And that is code speak for what sexual act?"

Kurt looked at his Dad mortified. "Dad!"

"Burt!" Carole looked scandalized.

"What?" Burt looked innocent.

"We kissed. That's it." Kurt buried his face in his hands. "Oh my God dad."

Burt nodded contemplatively, "He's coming to the wedding right?"

Kurt didn't look up from his hands. "And I've got to change the seating arrangements since this new development. Under no circumstances is he to get within 20 feet of Aunt Mildred.

The front door opened and Finn walked in.

"Hey guys. Kurt! You're back." Finn grinned.

"Finn." Kurt tried to return the other boy's enthusiasim. "How is Rachel?"

Finn shrugged. "She's fine. Yeah."

"And the rest of glee?"

"They're all really good. We miss you a lot and wish you could come back."

"I miss you guys too. But I'm very very happy at Dalton."

Burt nodded. "You look really good kid. That place has been doing you good."

"Thanks." Kurt stood up. "I should get my stuff downstairs then. It's kind of a long drive."

"Alright. Dinner will be in an hour." Carole stood up as well

"Do you need help with your stuff?" Finn asked casually.

"I think I got it." Kurt went to grab his bag, but Finn picked it up anyway. Kurt considered arguing the point, but decided against it. The wedding was this weekend. He didn't need to cause trouble. He led the way down to the basement.

Finn put the bag down and shifted on his feet nervously. "So… we haven't talked much."

"No we haven't."

"Were you avoiding me?"

Kurt shook his head. "You were out most of the time when I called. It was completely coincidence."

"Right." Finn didn't look completely convinced. "You like Dalton?"

"Very much."

"Any chance you'll want to come back?"

"None whatsoever." Kurt took his bag and started unpacking. "McKinley was not a good place for me. I have friends now, and teachers who respect me, and an environment that challenges me intellectually, not emotionally."

"You had friends in Glee." Fin protested.

"Real friends Finn."

"We were real friends."

Kurt sighed. "Friends who stick up for me, no matter what. Who actually listen to me and respect me and expect nothing in return."

"But-"

Kurt raised a hand. "I really don't want to argue about this Finn."

"I saw Blaine is coming to the wedding."

"Please Finn, don't cause trouble with him."

A dark look crossed Finn's face. "I'm not going to be the one who is trouble."

"Blaine… is very important to me." Kurt walked past Finn to hang up his shirts in his closet. "And he's not-" Kurt sighed in frustration "I just need you to accept him Finn. He isn't leaving my life anytime soon. And I need you to respect that." He walked back to his bed but Finn put a hand on his arm.

"I understand why you like him. I just worry that you're going to get obsessed-"

"What?" Kurt exclaimed.

Finn tightened his grip to keep Kurt from running away. "-Because you can go overboard. And he'll take advantage of that."

"I am not having this conversation with you." Kurt hissed as he wrenched himself away. "We are not going to go through this again. And you keep your goddamn hands to yourself. Do not ever touch me."

"Kurt." Finn looked incredibly hurt, but Kurt could not care.

"He is my boyfriend Finn. We are going out. It's official. And we have support from everyone in Dalton. Why can't you just let go of your stupid prejudice against him and support me too?"

"I'm not being prejudiced. I'm trying to make sure you don't get hurt. I talked to Rachel and-"

Kurt's mouth dropped open in shock. "You're bringing Rachel into this?"

"She agrees." Finn was starting to get angry. "Blaine could be dangerous. And you refuse to see that.

"We've been living together for two months now. And yesterday was the first time we've done something that went beyond just being friends. I can assure you he is not praying on my naïveté.

"What else do you think he wants you for?"

Kurt looked like he had been punched in the gut. "Get out."

"I-I didn't mean-" Finn stammered.

"Get out." Kurt repeated louder this time. When Finn didn't move he picked up a decorative pillow from his bed and chucked it at Finn's head. "Get out!"

Finn stammered an apology and a plea to not tell their parents and fled back upstairs.

Kurt stared at the empty space where Finn had been standing, hugging himself as tears streamed unchecked down his face. Even after all this time, Finn still could make him question everything. It wasn't fair.

The buzzing of his phone in his pocket made him jump.

It was Blaine.

He let it go to voicemail and threw the phone on the bed.

Damn Finn.

**Chapter 17: Not alone**

"_It's okay"_

"No it's not."

"_I understand."_

"I don't." Kurt snapped.

He could hear a heavy sigh across the line, _" I really don't care. It's fine."_

"But it isn't. I let him do this to me." Kurt flopped onto his bed in frustration.

"_You called me back right?"_

"Yeah."

"_And you realize that you're giving him this power over you right?"_

"Yes."

"_That's kind of the first step"_

"But –"

" _Let's just not talk about Finn anymore. Because if we do… I'm going to want to punch him for screwing with you. And I really really want to make a good impression with your parents._"

Kurt chuckled. "Punching the golden son probably won't do that for you."

"_Kurt… if the reason you referred to Finn as __**the**__ golden son rather than 'one of their' or whatever inclusive phrase you'd like to use, is anything other than the fact that you consider gold to be tacky and therefore not worthy of you I'm going to..."_

"Going to what?"

"_Tell everyone I see at the wedding about what you do after seven cans of diet coke and an all nighter." _There was a pause._ "Especially Aunt Mildred."_

Kurt sat up straight. "You're staying away from Aunt Mildred."

"_Well?"_

"Well what?"

"_Why did you use 'the'"_

"… because gold was so last season?" Kurt replied uncertainly.

"_I'll pretend I actually believe that."_

Kurt let out a little laugh and lay back down on his bed, feeling a million times more relaxed.

xxx

Blaine had never seen someone so tense when he saw Kurt make his way towards him.

"Hey."

"He cancelled."

Blaine blinked. "What?"

"The band cancelled. Now there's going to be no music for the reception and everything is going to be ruined because I couldn't be trusted to hire a trustworthy band who wouldn't cancel at the last minute and now everyone is going to be angry and they're going to get divorced and everything is going-"

"They can't get divorced if they haven't been married yet." He reached out to take the other boy into a hug.

Kurt swatted away Blaine's hands. "That isn't the point"

Blaine stopped himself from laughing when he saw how pissed off and honestly distressed Kurt was. "Okay. Well… what did your dad say?"

"I haven't told him yet." Kurt glared at his phone. "I just got the call a little bit ago."

"Okay… how long do we have?"

"The wedding is in two hours." Kurt slumped into a chair nearby. "We have the sound system, I can make a playlist that would work… but that isn't the point."

"I know!" Blaine snapped his fingers. "It's perfect!"

Kurt looked up in surprise, "What?"

"It'll take a bit of prep time, but it'll totally work." Blaine was grinning.

"What do you need?"

Blaine's grin grew even larger.

"Rachel and Finn."

xxx

_This is it, oh I finally found someone_

_Someone to share my life_

_I finally found the one_

_To be with every night_

_'Cause whatever I do_

_It's just got to be you_

_My life has just begun_

_I finally found someone_

_And whatever I do_

_It's just got to be you_

_My life has just begun_

_I finally found someone_

Finn and Rachel smiled at each other as they finished singing the final notes of 'I finally found someone.' People clapped politely as they stepped off the stage and Blaine and Kurt stepped up. Blaine gave Kurt's hand a discreet squeeze before taking a step back for Kurt to begin.

_I've been alone_

_Surrounded by darkness_

_and I've seen how heartless_

_The world can be_

_And I've seen you crying_

_You felt like it's hopeless_

_I'll always do my best_

_To make you see_

_That baby you're not alone_

_'Cause you're here with me_

_And nothing's ever gonna bring us down_

_'Cause nothing can keep me from lovin' you_

_And you know it's true_

_It don't matter what'll come to be_

_Our love is all we need to make it through_

_Now I know it ain't easy_

**(No it ain't easy)**

_But it ain't hard trying_

**(It's so hard trying)**

_Everytime I see you smiling_

_And I feel you so close to me_

_Tell me_

_**That baby you're not alone**_

_**'Cause you're here with me**_

_**And nothing's ever gonna bring us down**_

_**'Cause nothing can keep me from lovin' you**_

_**And you know it's true**_

_**It don't matter what'll come to be**_

_**Our love is all we need to make it through**_

**Now I still have trouble**

**I trip and stumble**

**Trying to make sense of things some times**

**I look for reasons**

**But I don't need 'em**

**All I need is to look in your eyes**

**And I realize**

_**Baby you're not alone**_

_**'Cause you're here with me**_

_**And nothing's ever gonna bring us down**_

_**'Cause nothing can keep me from lovin' you**_

_**And you know it's true**_

_**It don't matter what'll come to be**_

_**Our love is all we need to make it through**_

'_Cause it don't matter what'll come to be_

_Our love is all we need to make it through_

xxx

Blaine watched Kurt squeeze his way to the drinks table. Apparently he was banned from that area because Aunt Mildred would be patrolling there for the free booze. He watched the other guests dancing. Sam had had to go to a family event but he could pick out the other members of Kurt's old glee club based on the boy's endless descriptions of them. Thus far none of them had come over to their table.

A shadow fell over him.

"You're Blaine then."

Blaine looked at the large bear of a man standing in front of him. "Yes Sir."

"Kurt said you were… boyfriends."

Blaine chewed the bottom of his lip. Kurt had said this would happen once he met his dad, but it didn't mean that it wasn't still scary. "Ah… yes sir."

"Have you ever-"

"Burt don't." Carole warned as she took Kurt's vacant seat. "Blaine right? You sounded amazing up there."

"Thank you Ma'am."

"Don't ma'am me dear. It makes me feel old." Carole replied sweetly. "You seem to be making Kurt very happy."

"I think he really likes being at Dalton."

Carole made a small noise of agreement. "Kurt is such an amazing boy."

"Yes ma- ah" Blaine stopped himself, "ah…"

"Carole, dear. Call me Carole." She put a hand on his arm. "You know I'd do anything to make sure Kurt was happy."

"Ah…" Blaine realized this woman was probably more dangerous than the man.

"Dad." Kurt walked up, glaring at both adults. "Carole." He handed the drink to Blaine.

"Kurt. Dear, have you even sat down since the wedding?" Carole stood up and pushed Kurt into his seat.

"Yes. Thank you Carole. Are you done trying to traumatize my boyfriend?"

Blaine couldn't even begin to try to hide the dopey smile that spread across his face. Kurt hadn't even hesitated at using the word.

"We were just getting started sweetheart."

Kurt rolled his eyes and took a deep drink. "Please don't. Not today."

Burt opened his mouth to argue, but Carole nodded. "Alright dear. You've done a wonderful job. I don't know what I would have done without you."

"You would have had actual music. Not an iPod and your children getting up at strategic intervals to perform."

"I think this is much better."

Kurt shook his head. "There's only so long that I can keep Rachel from singing Celine."

Burt frowned. "I thought you liked her."

"After learning a 14 and a half minute routine of her music in French for the Cheerios… I don't think I would mind if I never heard her ever again." Kurt leaned back in his seat. "Especially not a Berry cover."

Blaine took Kurt's hand, momentarily forgetting about the two adults next to them, and squeezed it gently making Kurt give him a tired smile.

Burt and Carole shared a look. "I think I better check on Mom." Carole patted Kurt on the shoulder and moved away. Burt opened his mouth to add another thing but Carole took his hand and pulled him away quietly.


	5. Chapter 18 through 21

**Chapter 18: It's cold outside**

Finn was angry. That bastard had not only gotten Kurt wrapped around his finger, but now had charmed his parents into thinking he was a good guy. It wasn't right. How could they not see it? Past the stupid little gestures and that stupid song… something dark was brewing. Why was he the only one who recognized it?

At least the glee club stood by him. He told them about how Kurt had joined the Warblers. About how he was going to be competing against them. They could see that Blaine was a gay Jessie, after he explained everything to them. The other boy was trying to destroy glee club by stealing Kurt. Some of them had disagreed. Mike had been surprisingly vocal. But when Mercedes was the first to stand by Finn everyone else's arguments dried up. Except Sam's.

Sam had been a problem. The boy had threatened to quit if they continued to trash talk Kurt and Blaine. So they had stopped doing it in front of him. Finn had worried what Sam's arguments might have convinced the others to join what he was now calling the dark side. He needn't have worried.

He was the good guy.

They knew that.

Why didn't anyone else?

xxx

Kurt had stayed behind to help the caterers clean up after the wedding. Burt and Carole had allowed it because they had recognized that Kurt was using it only as an excuse to have time by himself without it looking like he was sulking.

"I really thought… maybe they'd have gotten over it." Kurt sniffed as he scooped up a load of plates. None of the glee club had said anything to either him or Blaine besides the required hello when they first went into the church for the ceremony. And it hurt. A lot.

"I'm really sorry."

"It's not your fault. It's really not your fault." Kurt smiled waterly. "If they can't-can't be happy for me… They weren't really my friends."

Blaine shook the table cloth into the trash and put it into the basket. "I'll talk to Sam, see what's up."

"Don't." Kurt shook his head. "Don't bother."

"I- Come on Kurt. It's really bothering you."

"I'll get over it." Kurt looked out the window. "It looks like it's going to rain."

"It looks freezing outside."

Kurt checked his watch. "I'll need to go soon."

Blaine grinned. "**Baby it's cold outside.**"

"Oh no." Kurt laughed, "No, we're not singing that song." Kurt started to move towards the kitchen with his stack of plates.

Blaine moved to block the way and took the plates from his hands and put them on the table. "**But baby, it's cold outside.**"

"We need to clean up. You're leaving soon too." Kurt argued.

"**Baby, it's cold outside."**

Kurt sighed.

_I really can't stay_

**Baby it's cold outside**

Blaine grinned wider.

_I've got to go away_

**Baby it's cold outside**

_This evening has been_

**Been hoping that you'd drop in**

_So very nice_

**I'll hold your hands, they're just like ice**

He took Kurt's hands and pressed them to his lips. Kurt's breath hitched.

_My mother will start to worry_

**Beautiful, what's your hurry**

_My father will be pacing the floor_

**Listen to the fireplace roar**

_So really I'd better scurry_

**Beautiful, please don't hurry**

_Well maybe just a half a drink more_

**Put some music on while I pour**

Blaine let go of Kurt's hands, and Kurt moved away to keep cleaning up while they sang.

_The neighbors might think_

**Baby, it's bad out there**

_Say, what's in this drink_

**No cabs to be had out there**

_I wish I knew how_

**Your eyes are like starlight**

_To break the spell_

**I'll take your hat, your hair looks swell**

Blaine took the plates from Kurt's hands again and leaned in to kiss the other boy, but Kurt ducked away.

_I ought to say no, no, no, sir_

**Mind if I move closer**

_At least I'm gonna say that I tried_

**What's the sense in hurting my pride?**

_I really can't stay_

**Baby don't hold out**

_**Ahh, but it's cold outside**_

_I simply must go_

**Baby, it's cold outside**

_The answer is no_

**Ooh darling, it's cold outside**

_This welcome has been_

**I'm lucky that you dropped in**

_So nice and warm_

**Look out the window at that storm**

Finn had come in, planning to offer to help Kurt out and hoping to get a chance to try to get Kurt to see he wasn't being the bad guy. He stopped in the door as he saw the two of them singing together.

_My sister will be suspicious_

**Man, your lips look delicious**

_My brother will be there at the door_

**Waves upon a tropical shore**

_My maiden aunt's mind is vicious_

Blaine caught Kurt's chin and pressed a gentle kiss on his lips.

**Gosh your lips are delicious**

Kurt blushed and pulled away. Finn frowned and almost stormed into the room, but something told him that would end very badly. He turned around and quickly left.

_Well maybe just a half a drink more_

**Never such a blizzard before**

_I've got to go home_

**Oh, baby, you'll freeze out there**

_Say, lend me your coat_

**It's up to your knees out there**

_You've really been grand_

**I thrill when you touch my hand**

_But don't you see_

**How can you do this thing to me?**

_There's bound to be talk tomorrow_

**Think of my life long sorrow**

_At least there will be plenty implied_

**If you caught pneumonia and died**

_I really can't stay_

**Get over that hold out**

_Ahh, but it's cold outside_

_**Baby it's cold outside**_

This time Kurt pulled Blaine into a kiss. And it was nothing like the gentle chaste kiss Blaine had given him during the song. It was all teeth and tounge and so much emotion that Blaine almost felt overwhelmed by it. He broke away first.

"Kurt… God I-"

Kurt turned red and looked away. "I'm sorry. That was-"

Blaine turned him so he was facing him again. "It was amazing. And God… I love it, but-"

"But?"

"I- you know Wes and David are going to kill me for this, but I can't. I'm going to take this boyfriend thing seriously. And that means no taking advantage of you when you're emotionally distressed."

Kurt leaned in against his chest. "I had to pick a decent guy."

Blaine shrugged. "You have bad taste."

"Unfortunately." Kurt laughed. It turned into a strangled sob that he buried in Blaine's shirt. "I don't know why I'm so upset."

"Your old friends are being dicks. Your step-brother is a manipulative bastard. Your dad just got married. And the band cancelled last minute putting you through the most stressful morning of your life."

"I guess it makes sense when you put it that way."

Blaine pressed a kiss on the top of Kurt's head. He pulled Kurt out to the dance floor. He started to sway, holding Kurt close. Kurt started to pull away but Blaine held tight. "Shh… dance with me."

**You don't have a clue,**

**what it is like**

**to be next to you.**

**I'm here to tell you,**

**that it is good,**

**that it is true.**

xxx

A/N: The Last song is 'Fresh Feeling' by the Eels.

**Chapter 19: Didn't mean to**

Kurt walked into the house to find Finn sitting on the couch in the living room staring off into space. "Where is Dad and Carole?"

"Why don't you call her mom?"

"Because she's not my mom." Kurt frowned in concern. "Is it upsetting her?"

"I call Burt dad."

"I- I can't. I've tried, but I can't." Kurt looked around the house, he couldn't hear any other occupants. "Where are they? Have they not gotten back from the reception yet?"

"I think the adults took them to another party. That's what Mom said."

"Oh." Kurt fidgeted. "I'll be in my room then."

"I saw you kiss him. While you were singing."

Kurt stiffened. "You kiss Rachel."

"It's not the same."

"Because we are both boys?" Kurt demanded.

"Because you don't know what you are doing."

Kurt snorted and started to head down to the basement. "I'm not talking about this."

Finn moved to block him off. "We are talking about this."

"You've tried talking to me about this. It has yet to work-"

"Because you won't listen."

"Let me make my own mistakes."

"I'm looking out for you. That's what big brothers do."

"You keep saying that." Kurt hissed. "You. Are. Not. My. Brother. You've got some romanticized version of what 'big brothers' are supposed to do, but you really have no idea. You've never been a big brother. And I'm not some kid sibling you've got to watch out for. I'm just as much of an adult as you are, and miles more mature. If anyone should be watching out for the other, it should be me. You're dating Rachel Berry, one of the most manipulative and pushy people I know. She's the sort of person to watch out for. Not Blaine."

"He's using you."

"He isn't."

"You just don't see it."

"I'm not letting you do this to me anymore." Kurt tried to push past Finn, but Finn took a firm hold on his arm. "Let me go."

"How many times do I have to tell you? He knows that you don't have any experience with guys before. He's taking advantage of that."

"He is not taking advantage of anything. _I _kissed _him _first. I kissed him today, and he wouldn't let me because I was emotionally distressed. I can assure you he is not taking advantage of me."

"He's making you think that."

"You're unbelievably delusional." Kurt tried to pull away but failed. "Let me go." This was so much like all their previous fights. The same arguments, the same invasion of his personal space, it just didn't change. And he was so sick of it. "People will start to think you're jealous."

Finn's grip tightened. "I'm not jealous."

"No? I think you are. I think you're upset that I don't look at you the way I used to, and now I have someone else. You're upset that there is one less person on the 'We love Finn Hudson' bandwagon. You're angry that I've moved on and am happy. You think I'm obsessive? You need help Finn."

One second Kurt was yelling at him, the next he was on the floor with blood streaming from his nose. There was more yelling, but Finn could make out the words. He just wanted it to stop. He just wanted Kurt to listen for once and for all. He just needed Kurt to listen. He didn't hear the yelling stop. Why wouldn't Kurt listen? He needed to make sure Kurt would listen this time. Kurt thought he was stupid. Everyone thought he was stupid. Rachel would talk down to him all the time. Quinn thought he was so stupid that she could pass off a baby as his. Puck thought he was so stupid that he could get away with sleeping with his girlfriend. They all thought he was stupid.

Suddenly the air was pushed out of him as he was thrown against the wall and everything came back into focus. Burt was in front, murder in his eyes. His mom was kneeling by Kurt who was laying motionless on the ground. There was yelling. Burt was yelling. Mom was yelling. Kurt… he wasn't yelling.

Oh god.

He hadn't meant to hurt him. God he hadn't meant to hurt him. He just needed Kurt to listen. And when did he get so out of control? Kurt just wouldn't listen. No matter how many times he had tried to tell Kurt… he just wouldn't listen. Everyone else did. So that meant he had been right. And Kurt just wouldn't…

Why wasn't he moving?

Burt and his mom had changed places, now his mom was in front of him and she was crying, demanding to know why?

Why?

He couldn't remember anymore.

He couldn't even remember really what he'd done.

One second there was so much yelling. And now Kurt isn't moving.

He sees the look Burt is giving him, and he's fairly sure that if Burt hadn't needed to be by Kurt's side he would have been murdered violently by now. Maternal duties were probably the only things that was keeping his mom back.

Why wasn't he moving?

"Call an ambulance Carole."

An ambulance? Oh God, oh God oh God…

It was so quiet they would have missed it if they hadn't all been hyperaware of Kurt. A small breathy moan, almost a whine.

"Kurt?" Burt was holding him practically in his lap. "Kurt, God kid, open your eyes."

Another moan. It was terrible. Finn slid down the wall to slump on the floor. Kurt's face was covered in blood from his nose, bruises were already starting to blossom, on his cheek , around his neck.

Oh god his neck.

He could feel the phantom sensation of squeezing Kurt's throat in his hands. He'd just needed to get Kurt quiet… he didn't mean to.

He really didn't mean to.

His arms stung. He looked down. He was bleeding. There were scratch marks up and down his forearms. Kurt had fought back. And he hadn't even noticed.

He didn't mean to .

"Dad?"

It was so raspy and hoarse. Finn buried his face in his hands.

"I'm here Kurt."

"The ambulance is on the way." His mom said softly. When had she left to call them?

"Dad?"

"You'll be okay kid."

"Finn." Carole said levelly. "Go to your room."

"Mom?"

"I can't look at you right now Finn. Go to your room before I do something we will both regret."

Finn didn't need to be told twice. He jumped up and fled.

He didn't mean to.

Kurt just hadn't listened.

Oh god.

**Chapter 20: I'll be here when you wake up**

He hurt.

He'd known that he had been pushing when he started accusing Finn of being jealous. But he was just so done with having these same arguments. It had always followed the same pattern. They fight, Finn grabs him, he gets in a few barbs, Finn lets go. Rinse and repeat.

Not this time.

He hurt.

He could hear yelling. His dad was there. Carole was there. He couldn't hear Finn yelling. He hoped his dad hadn't killed him. He wouldn't be able to handle the strain on his heart that court proceedings would cause.

He tried to open his eyes, but they just felt so heavy. He tried calling out to his dad.

That hurt.

_I'm here Kurt."_

He tried calling out again. He didn't even know if he got any sound out.

_You'll be okay kid_.

He could feel the phantom feeling of huge hands closing around his neck. Squeezing. He couldn't breathe.

He needed to breathe. His eyes flew open, his dad was looming above him, holding him close. And he should be feeling safe, but those hands were still there and he couldn't breathe. His father's face was starting to grow more paniced, and he desperately wanted to tell his dad that he couldn't get too stressed out, but he couldn't say anything with those hands squeezing the breath out of him.

His dad was telling him something, but he couldn't hear it over the roaring in his ears. Was he telling him to breathe?

Thanks Dad. He knew that already.

He couldn't. And things were starting to get fuzzy around the edges. He just needed to…

Breathe.

Xxx

Burt had started to feel tired, and so with his heart in mind he and Carole managed to beg off and head home. They'd planned to finish their wedding day celebrations with a quiet night in with the kids.

He'd been about to put the key into the front door when he heard shouting from the other side. He could recognize Finn's voice

_Won't listen… think I'm stupid… you all think I'm stupid… just listen_

Carole obviously heard it too, and he quickly scrambled to open the door.

He'll never be able to get the image that greeted them from his mind.

His son, blood covering his face, laying there limply with the so much larger, he'd never noticed before how much larger, Finn holding him by the neck. Squeezing.

Someone was killing his son.

It was kind of a blur after that. He had a hazy memory of throwing Finn against the wall. One memory that was all too clear was the moment his son woke up. He'd struggled for breath, fought for it, until he passed out again. It wasn't too long after that things get hazy again, the paramedics came. Oh god, they stuck a tube down his son's throat just so he could breathe. They took him away.

Now he was sitting by his son's bedside. The doctor had talked about things like compromised airways, laryngeal fractures and possible hypoxia, and all he could think about was how did it end up like this? He wondered how long this had been building up. He wondered what other things had happened that his son had kept from him. Things like this don't just happen. Not with boys like his son, not with boys like Finn. They don't just explode out of nothing.

Damnit, once his son woke up, he was going to kill him himself.

xxx

"Finn."

Finn lifted his head from his hands and saw his mother standing in the doorway of his room. "Mom. Oh God mom, I didn't-"

"You could have killed him Finn." She cut him off coldly.

"Is he- is he okay?"

"I don't know." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I need to know why Finn."

"He- he wouldn't listen."

"What?"

"He wouldn't listen. I was just- I didn't know I hurt- I didn't realize it. He just wouldn't-" Finn stammered.

"He wouldn't listen to what?"

"Blaine is taking advantage of him. And I keep trying to explain that to Kurt… but he just wouldn't- Mom I'm so sorry."

Carole looked like she wanted to strangle him herself. "You throttled your step brother because he wouldn't listen to your relationship advice?" She choked back a sob. "Oh my God Finn."

"It wasn't like that. Mom. Please. I didn't- I didn't realize it was happening. I would never-"

"You did Finn." She snapped. "You- You could have killed him!"

"I'm sorry Mom."

She couldn't hold back the sob this time. "Finn… I'll always love you but… God Finn, this is unforgivable. Do you understand what you did?"

"I didn't mean to…"

She shook her head and closed the door, leaving him alone again in his room.

"Mom."

xxx

Blaine was driving back home in a great mood. The wedding, despite the stress at the beginning had been beautiful. And even though it turns out that Kurt's old school friends were total jerks, he had managed to have fun with the other boy.

_Baby it's cold outside_

Kurt hadn't stumbled once over the word boyfriend when he'd introduced him to various people during the reception. Not even a slight hesitation. He grinned.

_Baby it's cold outside_

So overall he counted this day as a success.

"I am what I am" started playing from his phone. He grinned and picked it up. "Kurt?"

"Blaine?"

Blaine frowned. That was not Kurt's voice.

"It's Burt. Kurt's- well you know I'm his dad." There was a long pause. "I… he would have wanted me to call you."

Blaine pulled over, feeling cold with growing dread. "Where's Kurt?"

"He… he's in the hospital. And I think… I think he'd like it if you were here. If that's okay with your folks."

"What happened?"

"That's something I'd like to talk to you about actually."

"Which hospital?"

"Lima Memorial."

"I'll be there in 20 minutes."

Burt made some noise of acknowledgment and hung up the phone. Blaine stared at it for a moment before quickly swinging his car around and started driving as quickly as he could back to Lima.

xxx

That cursed beeping was what drove him back to consciousness. Stupid Wes and his stupid alarm, and doesn't the stupid boy understand he needed his beauty sleep, and each beep of that damn alarm that Wes was holding to his ear was a year he was going to take off of the other boy's life. Mornings were for freaks and non human life forms.

He opened his eyes slowly.

This was not his dorm room.

He heard voices murmering off to the side, but when he tried to turn his head he found it was restricted by a thick brace wrapped around his neck.

The beeping started to increase, and though he couldn't turn his head he could see through his perifory that it was a heart monitor.

He was in a hospital.

And he was starting to remember why.

"Dad?" He winced at how hoarse and weak his voice sounded.

"Kurt." His dad appeared by his side.

"Dad."

"It's going to be okay." Burt gently brushed his son's bangs back. "It's going to be okay."

He could feel someone grab his hand, and he tried to turn his head to see the other person. Blaine entered his field of vision.

"Try to not move your head around so much. The doctors are worried about the extent of damage to your throat."

"I can't feel anything." Kurt whispered.

"That'll be the drugs." Blaine replied reassuringly.

"Where's Finn."

"I'll deal with him later." Burt promised darkly.

"Dad…" Kurt. "I pushed him. We were fighting, and I was-"

"I don't care Kurt. Don't you dare try to excuse this."

"I'm not."

"Blaine's been telling me what's been going on."

Kurt shot a look at Blaine.

"Why didn't you tell me kid?"

Kurt tried to look away, but again was blocked by the brace. "Why do I have this on?"

"It's for support, they're worried about throat damage." Blaine's voice sounded strained. "Kurt, he could have seriously hurt you… or…"

"I'm sorry." Kurt wanted to cry. "I didn't think he would ever-"

"I know." Burt said softly as he stroked his son's forehead again.

"Don't leave Carole."

Burt's hand stilled. "We're going to deal with this together."

"You need to take it easy." Blaine said softly.

"Yeah." Kurt would have nodded if he could. Drugs or no, it still hurt to talk. "That might be a good idea." His eyes were starting to feel heavy… "Blaine?"

"I'll be here when you wake up. Promise."

Kurt smiled and with that promise putting his mind at rest he slipped back into the warm embrace of sleep.

**Chapter 21: We'll do this together**

Carole practically dove at the phone when it started ringing. "Burt?"

"Carole." He sounded so tired.

"How is he?"

"He woke up for a bit."

"Is he going to be okay?"

"They're not sure yet. Physically he'll recover just fine… eventually. The other stuff… he hasn't been awake long enough for us to know anything yet… and they're still waiting for the brain scans to be developed… we don't know how long he'd been without air…"

Carole choked back a sob. And it wasn't fair for her to be crying, it wasn't _her_ biological son who had been nearly killed. It was _her _biological son who tried to kill his step brother. Except that wasn't true. They were both her boys. Biology no longer had anything to do with her connection with those two young men. And a part of her hoped to god for Finn's sake that Burt felt the same way. "Burt… I am so so sorry. If I had had any idea that Finn could-"

Burt sighed. "Kurt has been lying to us for a while Carole."

"What?"

"I uh- I called his… boyfriend. Blair." She heard someone talk in the background. "Sorry, Blaine. Carole, this has been building up for a while now. Finn… Finn has been hassling Kurt for a while now, and Ben-Blaine said that it had been getting steadily worse. This isn't the first time Finn has hit him Carole."

"Oh my God."

"Finn… he's become like a son to me Carole. And- and I don't want to- Carole, based on what Cain has said- Blaine has said… they think it would be a good idea if Finn was brought in."

Carole hesitated. "Burt… Finn in jail-"

"Not jail… but they think he might still be a danger to himself Carole. And they would like him to be brought in here. To the hospital."

Carole choked back a sob again. She felt like her world was falling apart.

"Carole, I'm sorry-"

"No Burt. I'm so so sorry this happened. Kurt is my son. And he's hurt, and I can't help but feel like it's my fault. I'm his mother Burt! I am Finn's mother and I couldn't see that he was sick."

Burt sounded like he wanted to cry too. "This isn't your fault Carole."

"A mother is supposed to know these things. Burt. They're supposed to be able to stop these things from happening." Carole took a deep breath. "I- I'll bring him in now."

"Carole, you haven't done a damn thing wrong with either of our boys. They've both been lying to us for a long time now, and- Carole when Kurt woke up this time in the hospital… he asked me to not leave you." Carole didn't bother holding back the sob this time. "He asked me to not leave you, and I don't want to let him down Carole. We need to be together through this. It's the only way I see us being able to protect our sons Carole."

"I know." She choked out. "I know. And we are. Together. We are together through this. The four of us."

xxx

"Rach?"

"Yes Finn?"

Finn took a deep breath. "Rach, I think I screwed up."

"Did you try using the oven again?" Rachel sounded slightly annoyed.

"Bigger than that Rachel."

"What did you do?"

"It was an accident. I swear it was."

"What was it?"

"Burt is going to kill me. The next time he sees me, he'll kill me. Oh god Rachel-"

"Did you flood the basement or something? Break something important?" She still sounded annoyed, but there was a tinge of worry now.

"It was an accident. He just wouldn't listen. He wouldn't stop- I kept telling him over and over, and he would get angry, and I couldn't get him to understand. It was an accident. I didn't know I was doing it."

Rachel was very quiet. "What did you do Finn?"

"I can still feel his throat Rachel. In my hands. It's like I'm still squeezing, but I don't know how I can remember that, because I didn't realize I was doing it till after Burt stopped me. I thought I had killed him."

"Who Finn?"

"Kurt." Finn looked at his hands, they were shaking. "It's like I'm still squeezing it Rachel. The feeling won't go away."

"Where is he now Finn?"

"The hospital. With Burt." Finn took a shaky breath. "You understand right? It was an accident. He wouldn't listen… I didn't mean to. I really didn't."

The door to his bedroom opened and his mom walked in, her eyes red rimmed but otherwise she looked rather composed. "Finn. We need to go to the hospital."

"Rachel… I swear it was an accident. Please believe me." Finn sighed. "I've got to go now. Please say something."

"Finn." His mother repeated.

Finn closed his eyes. "I love you."

He hung up.

xxx

"You ready to stop worring us now?"

Kurt frowned at the boy leaning over him. "Where's dad?"

"He's talking to Carole." Blaine gently stroked the hair from Kurt's forehead. "I told him everything I know that had happened between you and Finn. You need to tell your dad everything else."

Kurt shook his head and looked away.

"Kurt. It's the best thing you can do for Finn."

"I think I've already told you everything before. Or the major stuff at least by now. There is nothing left to say." Kurt winced, it hurt so much to talk, and his voice came out more as a whiny whisper than actual speech.

Blaine sighed and then nodded. "Fine."

Kurt could tell Blaine didn't believe him. "It's true."

Blaine shrugged, but his eyes were unreadable. "I'm going to have to accept that it is, because I've come to accept that it is impossible to get you to say something you don't want to. Even when your life is in goddamned danger-"

"It's true. There's nothing left to say." Kurt insisted, trying to ignore how it seared when he tried to raise his voice.

Blaine's eyes softened and he took Kurt's hand. "Okay." He stroked the soft delicate hand in his. "They'll be wanting to come in to do some tests and make sure you're going to be alright. Are you up for that?"

xxx

"Mom?" Finn said confused, as they drove to the hospital. "Burt is letting me go to see Kurt?"

Carole didn't make eye contact with her son. "No."

"But-"

"We're putting you under observation Finn."

"What?"

"It's important Finn. You're sick."

"I'm not sick." Finn said vehemently.

"Finn…" Carole swallowed thickly. "Finn, I- I need there to be a reason why you tried to kill your step brother other than he just wouldn't listen to you. Burt says this has been going on for a long time Finn. Please. Why didn't you tell me when you hit him the first time? We could have kept this from happening."

"We didn't want to break you and Burt up."

Carole was so tired of crying, but she didn't think she was going to stop anytime soon. "This was the alternative Finn?"

"No. Mom. I swear I-I didn't know I was doing it. Please. I didn't know it was happening."

"That's why it's important we take you to see someone. You understand that right?"

"Mom… I don't want to go."

"Please Finn. I need you to do this. For me. Please." They pulled into the hospital parking lot. It was late and they were able to get a parking space near the door.

Finn swallowed and nodded silently. He was tired. So tired. And he owed it to her. He kind of ruined her wedding day. He owed it to Kurt. And Burt. It wasn't like the doctors were going to find anything wrong with him. Because he hadn't been wrong. He'd been trying to do the right thing, and things just got so out of hand. And it wasn't his fault, because he didn't realize he was doing it. But he wasn't sick. The doctors will see that. Maybe this will show Mom and Burt that it wasn't his fault. That it was an accident. Yeah. They'll be able to do that. And then things will go back to normal.

Things could go back to normal.


	6. Chapters 22 through 25

**Chapter 22: What we face**

Carole, Burt and Blaine all jumped to their feet as the doctor came out of Kurt's room.

The doctor gave them a tight smile. "We were most worried about hypoxia, as we don't know how long Kurt was without air. From what I can tell thus far he doesn't seem to have a problem with memory and his concentration seems good, so we may have dodged that particular bullet. I recommend keeping an eye on that though for a while."

Burt and Carole looked relieved. Until the doctor continued.

"Psychologically, strangulation has been know to cause a lot of trauma, and I'll recommend that we set Kurt up with a specialist soon, especially given the circumstances of this incident."

Burt nodded. "Okay." They'd expected as much. That wasn't too bad. But she wasn't done.

"The swelling in his neck and some head trauma we found in the scans has caused a contralateral sensory deficit." She saw their confused expressions. "He can't feel anything."

"He could feel me take his hand." Blaine protested.

She gave him a sympathetic smile. "He can register pressures, so he would have known something was happening to his hand. But sensations like pain and temperature… he can't feel that. At first glance… that might seem like a blessing, but it's very serious. It will be very easy for him to injure himself without realizing it happened, and it's going to be important to monitor his temperature because his body will not register when he's getting too hot or cold and won't make the necessary internal adjustments to keep him from getting hypo or hyperthermia."

They looked stricken.

"It shouldn't be permanent." She tried to reassure them. "And it seems that he still has full mobility."

"Dane, do you think you could get us some coffee?" Burt asked suddenly.

Blaine didn't bother to try to correct him as he quickly made his exit. Part of him wanted to stay and find out all that had happened to Kurt so he would best know how to help the other boy, but the other part of him was relieved to get away from there. He didn't want Burt and Carole to see him cry.

xxx

Finn sat in his hospital room. They'd taken his stuff and had given him what were basically pajamas. The pants were too short and his ankles were getting cold. He wondered if Rachel had tried to call him back. He kind of wished that she had said something, anything when he had told her what he had done.

It was late so there wouldn't be anyone to see him till the morning. His mom had gone off to see Kurt as soon as she had signed the papers admitting him. He wished she would have looked at him. He hoped she would come down soon to tell him how Kurt was.

It had been an accident. The doctors would find that out. It was just an accident. He'd been doing the right thing. Blaine should be the one in here. He was the one who was dangerous. He just hadn't known his own strength. And with everyone always assuming he was just so stupid, it was understandable that he had snapped. It wasn't supposed to be like this. He once again hated what had happened in the basement last year. If he hadn't done that… Kurt might not have even met Blaine in the first place. And he would have definitely listened to him the first time he had told Kurt that Blaine was dangerous. Things would have been okay.

With a sigh he turned on the television and sat back on the bed.

xxx

Blaine sat in the cafeteria staring at his cup of coffee. He just wanted a few minutes to himself before he headed back up to Kurt's room and he assumed that Burt and Carole would appreciate having some privacy with their son.

How had things gone so wrong? He blamed himself. He knew Kurt had a martyr complex. He knew Kurt would have never said anything to anyone and he should have taken the responsibility and told someone. Even if it meant that Kurt hated him forever. It would have been better than this.

His phone began to ring just as he was about to take a sip from his cup, and he just managed to not dump the whole thing down his shirt. It was Sam.

"Hey Blaine, are you sitting and a good distance from anything breakable?"

"What?"

"Just- are you?"

"What do you want Sam. I'm at the hospital."

"So you know about Kurt. Good. I didn't want to be the one to tell you, especially since I just heard what happened from a hysterical Rachel, so I wasn't entirely clear on what happened. Is Kurt alright?"

Blaine gaped. "How could you have possibly heard what happened?"

"Rachel told me that Finn called her. She wanted your number, but I figured it would be better if I checked with you first. To make sure you actually knew what happened."

"Did he happen to mention why he decided to strangle his step-brother half to death when he had her on the line?"

"He tried to strangle him?"

Blaine sighed. "Look… I don't really want to talk about it. Especially not with Rachel or any of Kurt's so called friends from Glee. It's bad okay. It's really bad."

"I can come over… to make sure you're alright."

"I'm not the one who was almost killed."

Sam sighed. "But he's your boyfriend. It's got to be hard for you right now… so if you need a friend or something…"

"Thanks." Blaine smiled slightly. "I appreciate it. But I'll be fine for now."

"Where's Finn now?"

"Psychiatric ward under 72 hour observation."

"Damn." Sam was silent for a moment, letting everything that was happening sink in. "I- jus- damn."

"That's one way to put it."

There was a beeping noise. "Sorry, I've got another call coming in. I think it's Rachel. She's probably rallied the troops by now. She seemed really upset. I'll try to run interference as much as possible so they don't bother you and Kurt at the hospital."

"Thanks." Blaine said, genuinely grateful for a friend like Sam.

"Take care of Kurt. And yourself." Sam hung up.

xxx

Blaine came back to Kurt's room to find the other boy asleep. Burt was sitting silently in the corner of the room, staring at his son.

"Hi." Blaine said awkwardly.

Burt started and broke from his reverie. "Wayne."

Blaine smiled tightly. "It's Blaine."

"Right."

"Where's Carole?"

Burt sighed. "She went down to check on Finn."

Blaine nodded and took the chair next to him. They sat in silence, stewing in their own thoughts.

"He likes you. A lot. Every time he calls, it's Blaine this. Blaine that." Burt gave Blaine an small smile.

"I feel the same way. Sir."

"Burt." Burt replied. "If you're going to make me say your name right, you might as well return the favor."

"Yes Si- Burt."

"The doctor said he's going to need a lot of support."

"I'm going to be there for him." Blaine promised.

Burt nodded. "It's a lot to be dumped on your shoulders."

"For Kurt I can handle it."

Burt gave him a look that made Blaine feel like he passed a huge test. "And I'm incredibly grateful for that son."

xxx

Rachel had indeed rallied the troops, calling them all to her house for an emergency glee meeting.

"Girl, you better have a good reason you dragged us here." Mercedes said as she arrived, she was the last one to come. She paused when she saw how red and puffy Rachel's eyes were. "What happened?"

"Please sit in the living room, I'd like to tell everyone at once."

Everyone, including Mr. Shue, was there except Sam and Finn Mercedes noted as she took a seat on the couch. Rachel went to the front of the room. "I'm glad you could all make i-i-it h-here on such sh-short notice." Rachel seemed to be trying to keep from breaking down and was failing. "I-I have so-ome terrible news t-to share with a-all of you, and it couldn't wait."

"What happened Rachel." Mr. Shue asked sympathetically.

"F-Finn…" She broke down crying.

"Did he die?" Brittany asked.

She shook her head. "he-he-he he put K-kurt in the hospital."

"What?" Mercedes exclaimed. "What do you mean?"

Rachel tried to compose herself. "He says it was an accident. B-but… he tried to- strangle Kurt. And now Kurt is in the hospital."

"How do you accidentally strangle someone." Santana demanded.

Mercedes just felt cold. "Which hospital?"

"I-I don't know. Finn called me. And told me. I called Sam, and he called Blaine, but he won't tell me anything. I haven't been able to get a hold of Finn or Kurt or their parents since."

The room exploded with noise, people expressing outrage towards Finn, about not knowing what was going on, and sorrow about Kurt. Rachel started crying again and Mr. Shue got up to hold her while she sobbed.

"Guys." He tried to raise his voice over the others. "Guys. We all need to calm down."

"How can you tell us to calm down?" Mercedes demanded.

"Look. We don't know what's going on, and for all we know it might be just a giant misunderstanding. But it's not going to help anyone if we all lose it right now."

"My boy Kurt is in the hospital, and you expect me to stay calm." Mercedes scoffed.

Puck snorted.

"What Puckerman."

"Your boy?" Puck asked. "Now he's your boy? What about at the wedding? What was he then? Because you were all for operation "Ignore Kurt at his parents' wedding." "

"You didn't talk to him either."

"I never talk to him." Puck shrugged. "I used to throw him in the trash. We aren't exactly tight. It doesn't mean anything if I didn't talk to him. It means something when you don't."

Mercedes started to retort but Puck cut her off.

"Why were you ignoring him anyway?"

"He left us."

"Why?"

"Because-"

"He wasn't safe." Puck answered. "Did we ever bother to ask from who?"

Artie frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean who was so adamant that this Blaine kid was bad news? Who was the one who pushed for us to give Kurt the cold shoulder? Think about it."

They'd gotten quiet as everything Puck said sunk in.

"Oh god." Mercedes said quietly. "How did we not see it?"

**Chapter 23: Remember what I said when we first met?**

The doctor who came in to talk to him was kind of nice Finn thought. He was a lot like Mr. Rogers. But he didn't like the questions he had asked. It was like the doctor had already decided he was crazy. What happened to being innocent until proven guilty? Shouldn't that apply here too? Because he wasn't crazy.

He picked at one of the scabs on his arm from the scratches that Kurt must have given him when he had accidentally lost control. It started to bleed again.

His mom had come down last night. She wouldn't tell him what was going on with Kurt, but she came down to check on him, so he took that as a good sign. Maybe she'll be able to forgive him. And then she can convince Burt to not kill him.

He wished she would tell him about Kurt though, every time he asked she would look like she was going to cry again and he really wished that he wasn't the one who was responsible for that. Though if you thought about it, it was kind of Kurt's fault too, because he wouldn't listen.

He'd told that to Dr. Mr. Rogers-look-alike. It didn't look like he agreed though, but people tended to side with the person who got hurt and are usually reluctant to blame them, so Finn didn't worry about that too much. Dr. Mr. Rogers-look-alike wrote a lot in his notebook though.

After what seemed like forever Dr. Mr. Rogers-look-alike had finally left.

Finn lay back on the bed. He was bored. There was nothing on TV, so he'd had nothing to distract him from his thoughts. He wasn't crazy. He wasn't. Blaine was obviously dangerous. And the rest of glee club had seen it when he had explained it to them. Well beside Sam. But that didn't count, because Sam had been friends with Blaine before, so was blinded to what Blaine was doing now. His parents had believed him before. Of course they would be upset now, because he'd accidently lost control. But they had believed him.

He was sure that nothing he had said to Dr. Mr. Rogers-look-alike could be interpreted to show that he was crazy. They'll all come around again once they see that. And everything will be okay, and maybe Kurt will listen to him now.

xxx

"I am fairly confident that Finn is suffering from delusional disorder. Though I'd like to talk to you some more about family history."

Carole frowned. "What exactly is delusional disorder?"

"It is a stable disorder characterized by the presence of delusions to which the patient clings with extraordinary tenacity. The delusions are logically constructed and internally consistent. Finn is still insisting he did the right thing, and that what had happened was an accident. His belief that his brother's boyfriend is using him is also still very strong.

We would say that Finn is having persecutory delusions, which is the most common form we see. People with these types of delusions believe that they, or in Finn's case someone close to them is being treated malevolently in some way."

Carole bit her lip. "How did we not see this?"

"The delusions do not interfere with general logical reasoning, although within the delusional system the logic is perverted, and there is usually no general disturbance of behavior. And from what I've heard so far in our brief chat and with my meeting with Finn, there had been no obvious change in his personality. All the disturbed behavior that occurred was directly related to the delusional beliefs.

A person with delusional disorder may be high functioning in daily life and will exhibit entirely normal behavior aside from these delusions. It's not your fault you didn't see this, especially since your other son seems to have been covering for him?"

"Yes. Apparently he was." Burt sighed and rubbed his hand over his eyes. "The kid has a martyr complex the size of Texas."

The doctor nodded sympathetically. "Symptoms that are associated with delusional disorder are very often displayed in other illnesses, like schizophrenia. I am very confident that what Finn is suffering is not schizophrenia because he does not seem to be suffering from hallucinations or any of the other common symptoms, aside from the delusions. But to make a proper diagnosis, we do have to go through a bit of process by elimination. In order to make a proper diagnosis we have to be sure that these delusions have been present for at least one month, which based on the timeline Finn gave me, they have, an absence of obviously odd or bizarre behavior, and an absence of hallucinations."

Carole nodded. "How did it get to this though? Why would he attack Kurt if he thought that Kurt was the one in danger?"

"The individual experiences a heightened sense of self-reference. Events that, to others, are not significant are of enormous significance to him, and the atmosphere surrounding the delusions is highly charged. In severe or harsh confrontations dealing with the existence of the delusions, agitation is a typical response, and the patient may become violent in those cases, and that is obviously the case here."

Burt put an arm over Carole's shoulders. "What can we do?"

"Cognitive therapy is very useful in treating this disorder, and I would like to start Finn on Risperidone, once we make a definitive and absolute diagnosis. We'll keep Finn here for the remainder of the 72 hours of observation as well, though since this condition has advanced to this level, I would suggest a longer term commitment, a month or so, so that he get the help he needs."

He looked back and forth between the two adults. "Though I know you are both probably very upset, I would say it would be very detrimental to Finn's mental health if you were to press charges against him for the assault."

Burt and Carole shared a look. "We're not going to press charges." Burt said firmly. "He is our son. And he needs help."

xxx

Kurt looked at the hand intertwined with his. "But I can feel it."

"The doctor says you can feel pressures. The rest of it just doesn't register." Blaine explained.

"But-"

"How do my hands feel?"

"Like hands."

"But… are my hands warm or cold?"

Kurt looked at Blaine in alarm when he realized he didn't have the answer. "I- I don't know."

Blaine closed his eyes and squeezed gently. "They're freezing. This room is too cold. The nurse is bringing more blankets for you."

"I don't feel cold."

"You won't. That's the problem."

Kurt looked away.

"At least it isn't permanent right?" Blaine added encouragingly.

"So they think." Kurt replied pointedly not meeting Blaine's eyes. "What if they're wrong?"

"Then we'll work through it."

"You shouldn't have to." Kurt still kept pointedly not looking at Blaine.

"Hey." Blaine stroked Kurt's cheek gently. i"I think that possibly

Maybe I'm falling for you

Yes There's a chance that I've fallen quite hard over you."/i

Kurt frowned at Blaine. "What?"

Blaine smiled and kept singing. i"I've seen the paths that your eyes wander down

I want to come too

I think that possibly

Maybe I'm falling for you

No one understands me quite like you do

Through all of the shadowy corners of me

I never knew just what it was about this old coffee shop I love so much

All of the while I never knew

I never knew just what it was about this old coffee shop I love so much

All of the while I never knew"/i

Kurt swallowed thickly. "Blaine…"

"iI think that possibly

Maybe I'm falling for you

Yes there's a chance that I've fallen quite hard over you

I've seen the waters that make your eyes shine

Now I'm shining too

Because

Oh

Because I've fallen quite hard over you

If I didn't know you I'd rather not know

If I couldn't have you I'd rather be alone

I never knew just what it was about this old coffee shop I love so much

All of the while I never knew

I never knew just what it was about this old coffee shop I love so much

All of the while I never knew

All of the while

All of the while

All of the while it was you, you!"/i He stopped stroking Kurt's cheek. "Do you remember what I told you when we first met and we had coffee. When you asked how you knew if you were in love?"

Kurt started to nod, but was stopped by the neck brace. "Yes."

"Well the songs started to make sense to me right about then."

Kurt smiled softly. "You're such a sap."

Blaine laughed. "It's true!" He got serious again. "You're so amazing."

"I look disgusting right now." Kurt argued.

"You're not in top form right now. But you're still beautiful to me."

"Sap." Kurt repeated.

Blaine shrugged. "Probably guilty. But I'm surprisingly okay with that. You'll still love me anyway right?"

"I suppose." Kurt grinned.

Deciding to not disturb the scene in front of them Burt and Carole silently moved away from the door.

xxx

Song is Falling in love in a coffee shop by Landon Pigg.

**Chapter 24: I don't like jello**

"I don't like jello."

"C'mon open wide." Blaine pleaded. "Ahh."

Kurt snorted at Blaine who himself had his mouth wide open as he 'ahhd' in an attempt to get Kurt to eat. He reluctantly opened his mouth and let Blaine feed him.

"That wasn't so bad was it?" Blaine smiled as he scooped up another spoonful.

"I don't like jello." Kurt repeated.

"It's something. And with your throat so swollen you're going to have to get used to it."

Kurt rolled his eyes as he accepted the spoonful of jello. "Couldn't it have been a decent flavor though? Like lime?"

"I'll request it for you next time. Open up."

"This is embarrassing." Kurt complained. "I sound like a 60 year old chain smoker with laryngitis. I'm wearing a neckbrace and an open backed gown in a shade of blue that even I can't rock. And now my boyfriend has to feed me like I'm some sort of invalid." Blaine started to open his mouth to comment. "Don't you dare say a word."

"At least you seem to be feeling a little better this morning. Now come on. Ahhh…."

"Stop treating me like a baby." Kurt snapped, but he opened his mouth anyway and took the other mouthful. "I'm not even hungry."

Blaine sighed. "You need to eat."

Blaine's tired tone made Kurt feel a little guilty for complaining so much. "Fine."

Blaine held up another spoonful to Kurt's mouth. As soon as he pulled the spoon away he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss on the other boy's lips. He pulled away with a huge cat ate the canary grin. "Cherry isn't that bad of a flavor." He chuckled at the wide eyed look Kurt was giving him. "Has your opinion of jello changed yet?"

"I might need to give it a few more tries."

"Oh is that so?" Blaine scooped a new spoonful and repeated his actions from before, pressing their lips together. He gently sucked on the other boy's lower lip, tasting the cherry flavor of the jello he's been making him eat.

"I didn't know you were part of a balanced breakfast." Burt said dryly as he walked into the room holding two cups of coffee.

Blaine pulled away from Kurt, blushing heavily. "I-I ah-I"

Burt shook his head and offered one of the cups to the stammering boy. "The doctor said to limit movement, and nothing too exciting for awhile. Let's keep it G rated. "

"Y-yes Sir." Blaine couldn't meet the older man's eyes as he accepted the cup. He could see out of the corner of his eye that Kurt was just as red as he was.

Burt raised an eyebrow in a way that eerily reminded Blaine of Kurt, and walked back out.

"Oh my god." Blaine moaned. He looked at the cup of coffee in his hand suspiciously. "What's the likelihood that your dad put poison in here?"

xxx

Finn looked up when he heard the door open. "Mom?"

"Finn." She walked towards him, her arms tightly crossed in front of her.

"Did the doctor talk to you?"

"Yes." She nodded, and shifted like she wasn't quite sure what to do with herself. "We're going to get you the help you need sweetheart."

Finn frowned. "I don't need help. I'm not crazy. I don't hear voices telling me to burn the house down. I was just trying to get Kurt to listen. It was an accident. I didn't mean to hurt him."

Carole slowly uncrossed her arms and put a gentle hand on her son's shoulder. "Do you hear yourself? You almost killed your brother Finn. The doctors here are going to help you. And I'm going to come and visit you every day. Alright?"

"What?" Finn looked confused. "I thought I was only going to be kept here for seventy two hours. Didn't you talk to the doctor? He knew I wasn't crazy."

"This is what is going to be best for you."

"No." Finn said finally. "No. You can't make me."

Carole closed her eyes as a couple tears escaped. "I promise I'm going to come by everyday until you're well." She leaned down and pressed a small kiss to her son's forehead. "I love you so much."

"Mom. You can't- I'm not crazy!"

"Doctor Thompson will be coming in to talk to you again soon." She squeezed his shoulder gently and then quickly left the room.

Finn stared at the door in shock. This couldn't be happening. This wasn't right. The doctor was supposed to tell them he wasn't crazy and then things could go back to normal. This was so so wrong.

Xxx

Rachel stared at her phone dully as it rang. She felt too numb to do much of anything right now. Slowly she picked it up, it was Mercedes. She pressed the accept call button.

"Hello?"

"I know where they are."

Xxx

Blaine looked up from his book when he heard a shrill voice in the hallway. He recognized it from the wedding. Mercedes. Kurt would gush about her all the time. She didn't look their way the whole reception. Kurt hadn't stirred thankfully. He got up quickly and moved to the door.

"Please. I'm looking for my friend. Kurt Hummel. Please tell me what room he is in." She was pleading with the nurse on duty. He saw that the entire glee club, minus Sam and the boy with a Mohawk, was there with her.

Blaine closed the door behind him and approached the group. "He's sleeping."

Mercedes looked at him in surprise, not having seen him come near. "When can we see him?"

"He's sleeping right now. But I'll let him know that you dropped by." He replied coolly.

"Is he okay?" Rachel asked quietly. Her eyes were puffy and red rimmed and Blaine felt a moment of pity for the girl. Finding out that your boyfriend was a psychopath has got to be painful.

"No he's not. But he will be."

"And Finn?" Rachel asked even quieter. "Is he okay?"

Blaine shook his head. "No. But eventually he will be too."

"What happened?" Mercedes demanded.

"It's not for me to say. Kurt or his parents can tell you if they should feel it necessary. As I'm not exactly family, I don't have the right to tell you anything other than it's not good."

Mercedes "You have to tell-"

"Oh there are a lot of things I want to tell you." Blaine cut her off. "Almost of none of it is related to Kurt's current condition. You made him feel like crap at his parent's wedding. I mean he would talk so much about you and Glee club, and how you were like a family. How much he missed you. But you never talked to him after he left. Never returned his messages or emails… " He watched them all shift uncomfortably. "And eventually we stopped hearing about the adventures of the New Directions. It hurt him. A lot."

"He left us. And he wouldn't tell us why."

Blaine scoffed. "Of course he didn't. He never does. You should know that."

Mercedes looked away. "I want to make sure he's okay."

He saw Burt and Carole stepping off of the elevators. They had gone down to finish filling the paper work for Finn. "He's got his family and friends providing him a lot of support. He'll be okay eventually."

"And Finn?" Tina asked.

"He'll be getting the support he needs too." Burt and Carole had almost reached the group, and he decided to make his exit. Burt and Carole liked the New Directions group, and he wasn't exactly being nice to them at the moment. "I should be getting back."

Rachel was the first to see the two adults, and the group immediately turned to them. Blaine retreated back to Kurt's room. He was angry with them and didn't think he could put up listening to their demands without snapping and doing something he'd regret. They dared to come and act worried now, when all of this had been brewing under their noses?

At least as long as he was angry at them he could ignore the overwhelming guilt he felt about fact that he had known too and had done nothing.

**Chapter 25: What you still have**

"Wiggle your toes for me." Kurt rolled his eyes and complied. "Now I want you to lift your right leg first. Good. You can put it down and lift your left. Good. Now hands. Wiggle your fingers."

"We already know that I can move." Kurt complained. The nurse did not look impressed by his attitude. Kurt didn't feel guilty. They've been poking and prodding him for three days now. And now that they've taken the brace off he's had to go through the whole procedure again.

"Did you feel that?"

"No."

The nurse pursed her lips. "That?"

"No." The nurse moved up from his feet and poked his finger with the needle. Nothing. The nurse frowned and added another notation on the clipboard.

"Alright Kurt. Dr. Cooper will be in soon."

Kurt nodded silently. He knew what that notation meant. He knew that the Dr. Cooper was going to say, they'd already talked about the possibilities and probabilities earlier. And now it was time to tell his dad.

Burt came in after the nurse left. "Hey kiddo."

"Hey dad."

Burt took his son's hand. Kurt stared at the hand, willing himself to feel the heat coming from it. He could almost imagine it but not quite. "Blaine had to go back to school today?"

"He's promised to get all my work that I miss."

Burt nodded. "You shouldn't work too hard."

"I don't want to fall behind."

"I understand that. But-"

Kurt sighed. "Dad. I still can't feel anything."

"That's alright. You're still healing. You just need to give it ti-"

"No dad. I know they've talked to you too. You know what that means." Kurt sighed. "After 24 hours without sensation it goes down to 10-15% chance of ever getting it back."

"We could get lucky."

Kurt smiled bitterly. "We never get lucky dad."

"We'll make this work Kurt." Burt squeezed the hand he was holding. "We're going to make this work."

Xxx

"Carole I don't know how to make this work. He acts like he's accepted this but… he's been through so much this year. Someone out there just takes great pleasure in dumping as much shit as they can on him." Burt looked away. "I want to be hopeful. For him. But he's just such a goddamned smart kid, he already knows more about the prognosis and probabilities and what all that means than I'll ever understand. I don't know what to do."

"Burt." She said sternly so he looked at her in surprise. "Your son. He can still walk. Right?" Burt nodded. "He can still talk?" Burt nodded again. "Still think?"

"Too much."

"Kurt's alive, Burt. And it is killing me to know how close we were to losing that. But he's alive. And he is so strong. And he has you. He has me. He has Blaine now. His old glee club. His new glee club. They're all behind him. And it's going to be hard, there are going to be a lot of adjustments we need to make. But we'll get there. Okay?"

"I know." Burt nodded and squeezed her hands. "I don't know about sending him back to Dalton. With his condition… I don't know if it's safe for him to be so far from home."

"Do you think McKinley will be better for him?"

Burt paused. "At least he'll be where I can watch out for him. And his old glee club is all there for him now-"

"I don't know if it would be a good idea to pull him out of McKinley. At least with the no-bullying policy at Dalton we know he won't get hurt by the other students. And he'll be with Blaine. You've seen how good they are with each other."

"I just don't want him to be so far away. God I almost lost him Carole."

She smiled sympathetically. "It's something we should talk to him about."

Burt looked distant. "Yeah."

Carole bit her lip. "I talked to Finn's doctor today. He isn't taking the commitment so well."

Burt squeezed her hands again. "Carole I'm so-"

Carole shook her head. "He needed help Burt. I should have seen it. I'm his mother. I should have seen it."

"Carole." He caught her eye. "You're an amazing mother. Finn could not have asked for a more amazing mother, and I am so glad Kurt has you right now You couldn't have known."

"But-"

"No. The doctor has said as much. You couldn't have known."

"I don't understand why you've been so good about this-"

"If what had happened was reversed would you be here for me?"

Carole nodded. "Of course."

"We can't start blaming ourselves. And we can't start blaming each other. We messed up. Our boys messed up. But it happened… it happened and we can't afford to be anything but together."

Carole squeezed his hand back with a sad smile.

xxx

"Well at least the neck brace is off." Blaine offered.

Kurt shrugged.

"Come on Kurt. It's not the end of the world -"

"Pressures and vibrations are all I can feel from my neck down."

Blaine took Kurt's hand in his and held them up for Kurt to see. "You can feel this. Right?"

"But-"

"You know I'm holding your hand. You can ifeel/i that right?"

"Yes." Kurt pulled his hand from Blaine's. "I have to wear a mouth guard when I sleep to make sure I don't bite my tongue off. I'm going to have to constantly monitor my temperature to make sure I don't get hypothermia in an air-conditioned room or heat-stroke in the kitchen. I will have to-"

"It's going to be hard Kurt." Kurt snorted and Blaine glared at him. "But I'm not going to let you just feel sorry for yourself. You can still sing right?"

Kurt glared but nodded.

"Don't give me that look. And you can still dance. You're still a smart amazing gorgeous guy. You still have a pretty damn awesome boyfriend, so I hear." Blaine picked up his hand again.

"He's kind of alright."

Blaine kissed his hand. "I hope so."

Kurt's face softened. "I'm sorry I'm being so upset about this."

"I think you have the right to be upset."

"But not to be a jerk."

Blaine shrugged. "I'll let it pass."

"Don't." Kurt argued. "Don't just let me get away with things because I'm hurt right now."

Blaine kissed his hand again. "Okay."

"Nurse Brenda is going to be coming to take me to get more scans in a few. But I should be back up here in a hour or so."

"I'll get some coffee while you're away."

Nurse Brenda walked in at that moment with a wheel chair. Blaine smiled at her and kissed Kurt's hand one more time. "I'll see you when you get back."

He started to head down to the cafeteria when a strong grip pulled him into a empty patients room.

"Alright prep boy." Mercedes pushed him to sit on the bed. "Spill."


	7. Chapters 25 through 29

**Chapter 26: Clue by four**

A/N: So a lot of people have been asking about this, and I plan on going into this later in the story but it might be good to know this stuff ahead of time: pain and pleasure come from two different unconnected pathways in the body, Pleasure is mainly derived from the body releasing dopamine, not from your nerves. For instance, when someone you have strong feelings for touches your arm, its not the touching that makes you feel good, its the fact that its someone special, your body releases dopamine as a way trying to keep you calm. Sexual pleasure is from a stimulation of a large cluster of nerves in a single spot. They aren't connected to the pathways that transmit pain.

tl;dr: Kurt can still feel pleasure, just not pain or temperature differences, and we will be exploring this later.

xxx

"I have nothing to say to you. Or any of the rest your glee club. A. Because it's not my place to tell you anything. That's Kurt's or his parents' job. Not that I would tell you anyway because B. I… to put it politely, don't think much of you or your glee club."

Mercedes lifted an eyebrow. "You don't know a thing about us. We're dysfunctional as hell, but we're a family in the end. And that still includes Kurt."

"Except when-"

"We didn't act right before. But we're trying to fix that. And it isn't fair that you won't let us."

Blaine huffed an emotionless laugh. "Not fair?"

"I just want to know how Kurt is. I just want to see him."

"He's not good. Someone he was close to hurt him bad. And you and your friends didn't do anything to stop it from getting to this point."

"We didn't know there was something wrong. Kurt didn't tell us anything. And Finn's like this big gentle giant, we never thought he could hurt a fly, never mind his brother. So please. Tell us so we can help."

"If you had just looked at Kurt closely you would have been able to tell something was wrong."

"Well then what about you? You knew something? Why didn't you do anything?"

Blaine closed his eyes and turned away. "I should have. And I hate I didn't."

"And you think you can judge us?"

"I was trying to respect his wishes." Blaine snapped. "I wasn't there, I couldn't protect him. And I thought he was safe at Dalton. He was supposed to be safe at Dalton…" Blaine glared at her. "That doesn't change the fact that all you've done since he transferred was hurt him."

"I told you. Glee is like family." Mercedes crossed her arms defensively. "And to us, it looked like Kurt was betraying our family-"

"Did you ever ask him what was going on?"

"Like he would have told us. Finn's his step-brother. That seemed like it was going to be as close to the source as we were going to get. We had no reason to not believe him. But you're so much smarter than us right? You knew everything. You-"

"I didn't realize you would all be needed to be hit by a clue by four." Blaine stood up and started to move to the door. "I should have done something? You wouldn't have believed me if I went and told you what was going on. You'd think I was just trying to sabotage you club. That's all it took for you to turn on Kurt. Guess what. Glee, it's fun in all, but it shouldn't take away from what's really important and with Kurt you let it."

"I want to see him."

Blaine took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "He's getting some more scans. He'll be back in an hour or so. I'll ask if he wants to see you then."

Mercedes scoffed. "Why do I not believe that?"

Blaine shrugged. "Believe me or not. I don't care. I'll do it either way, because just as it isn't my place to tell you anything, it isn't my place to not let Kurt see you if he wants to." He leveled a cold look at her. "I'm going to do what's right for him, I hope you do the same."

Xxx

"I'm not crazy."

"You did try to kill your stepbrother."

"It was an accident." Finn insisted. "It was just an accident. I didn't mean to. I wasn't trying to kill him. He just wouldn't listen. I've told you this before. And it'll never happen again. I swear. I just want to get out of here. I'm not crazy. And this is where the crazy people get put. I don't hear crazy voices that are telling me that I should burn the school down or anything like that. This was just an accident."

"This wasn't the first time you hurt Kurt though." Dr. Thompson pointed out.

Finn bit his lip. "It was just an accident. And he totally forgave me for that."

"There wasn't just one incident either."

"What do you want me to say? I never meant any of it. I was just trying to do the right thing. Maybe I need some anger management class or something but I do not need to be commited."

"Finn, we're just trying to help."

"That's what everyone keeps saying. I don't need help. I'm not delusional. Blaine is using Kurt. And it's obvious. And nobody is going to believe me anymore because of this." Finn ran a hand through his hair.

"What has Blaine done exactly to make you think he's going to take advantage of Kurt?"

"Everything."

"Can you give me specific?" Dr. Thompson looked up from his clipboard.

"You think I'm crazy. You're not going to believe me."

"Finn. I am not your enemy. I'm just trying to help."

"I don't want your help."

"Finn-"

"No. You come in here with this voice that makes it obvious that you're just talking down to me and humoring me. It's like everyone else. Rachel would do it all the time. Kurt too. Anytime I talked to him he was always talking down to me like I was stupid. And I'm not. So stop talking to me like that. I'm not stupid. And I'm not crazy. And I don't belong here." Finn had jumped to his feet at some point during his rant. "Where's my mom?"

"She'll be coming to visit you later this afternoon." The doctor replied soothingly.

"She needs to get me out of here. She has to believe me."

"Finn why don't you sit down."

Finn sat. "I just want to go home."

"We want to get you home as soon as possible too Finn. But we need to make sure that you're ok first."

"Well I am."

Dr. Thompson picked up his pen again. "Then let's just talk, we don't need to talk about what you did to Kurt right now. But let's just talk. Okay?"

Finn took a deep breath. "Okay."

Xxx

"Hey." Blaine knocked on the door and walked slowly into Kurt's hospital room with a small smile. "How were the scans." Kurt turned to face Blaine, and Blaine stopped when he saw how red and puffy Kurt's eyes were. "What happened?"

Kurt just shook his head and turned away when a small sob escaped. Blaine quickly moved to his side and took his hand.

"It's never going to get better." Kurt choked out. "I knew it wouldn't but there was supposed to be a chance. And now there isn't. And I hate Finn. I hate him and I hate that he did this to me. And I hate that he's sick because it makes me feel terrible that I hate him."

"It's alright to hate him. I hate him for what he did. Sick or no."

"But it wasn't his fault."

"It wasn't yours either."

"If I hadn't pushed him-"

"He would have gotten worse."

Kurt started to sob harder. Blaine leaned down and held Kurt gently in his arms and Kurt buried his head in the crook of Blaine's neck.

Blaine heard a shuffle by the door and saw Mercedes standing at the door looking shocked. He wondered how long she had been standing there.

"Kurt?" She asked softly.

Blaine felt Kurt stiffen in his arms, and he wished that Mercedes had just walked away and waited for just a damn minute. He would have told Kurt that she wanted to see him, and it could have been on his terms. He squeezed Kurt gently, and the other boy pulled away.

"Mercedes." He smiled tiredly.

"Oh baby." She moved to his side pushing past Blaine. Blaine tilted his head to the door, silently asking if he should leave. Kurt's eyes widened and he gave a quick shake of his head. Mercedes hadn't noticed as she had been looking down, trying to figure out how to apologize. "I am so sorry Kurt."

"Please don't apologize Mercedes."

"What?"

"I don't really want to forgive you." Kurt looked away. "I really really don't. And I know I will. But I don't want to right now. "

**Chapter 27: When you're needed**

"Kurt…"

"Please Mercedes."

"I know you're hurting right now-"

"That's the thing Mercedes. I can't hurt. Ever again."

"I- I don't understand."

Kurt looked away. "I don't want to explain it all… it's complicated… I can't deal with this right now. Finn… he… I'm really messed Mercedes, and I really don't want to have to deal with you or the rest of New Directions. Especially if you're all feeling guilty. I just can't-"

"We just want to help Kurt."

"I don't need your help."

Mercedes stood up. "Kurt. You hid this all from us. You can't blame us for not knowing what was going on."

Blaine took a step forward but Kurt shot him a look to make him stay.

"I didn't think Finn could ever- I needed you to be my friend. After I left… I thought you would understand when I had to leave. It wasn't like it wasn't obvious there was something wrong when I told you I was transferring. But you left me. You and the rest of the club left me."

"We're here now." Mercedes grabbed Kurt's hand. "The whole club wants to be here for you now. And I know we shouldn't have acted the way we did, but we want to fix it."

"I don't. Not now." Kurt pulled his hand away. "Mercedes, I really don't have the strength to do that now. You have no idea right now."

"Well give me an idea then."

"Mercedes." All three teenagers jumped in surprise at the stern voice at the doorway. Carole was standing there radiating protective anger. "I think that's enough."

"I'm-"

"I think it's time that Kurt got some rest."

Mercedes looked at her former best friend who had turned away from her. "Alright. I'm sorry."

"Let's talk outside." Carole's voice still had a sharp edge to it that made Mercedes obey right away and walk out of the room. Blaine took her place by Kurt's bed, watching Carole warily, but she closed the door behind Mercedes and led her away.

"Kurt, do you-"

Kurt smiled tightly. "I think Carole is right. I should rest. It's been a hard day."

The moment that they'd had before Mercedes had come in where Kurt had been so open and vulnerable was gone. Blaine wanted to scream and cry because now Kurt was going to go back to bottling everything up again, and it wasn't fair. None of this was fair. Blaine returned the smile and squeezed Kurt's hand. "Okay. Okay, I should come back later then?"

"Yeah. Maybe tomorrow."

Blaine gave a curt nod. "I'll leave your homework with Carole then." Blaine really didn't want to leave. He scrambled for more to say. "Mr. Henderson was the only one who decided to continue giving you assignments, so you only have a math worksheet. Everyone else wishes you a speedy recovery. Wes and David want to see you as soon as you're up for it as well."

"Thanks. I don't know when I'll be able to see them."

"I'll let them know." Blaine wavered for a moment before getting up and moving towards the door. The moment he stepped out the door he could hear Kurt let out a sob, and he paused. He really wanted to turn around and just hold Kurt and never let him go. He didn't. He just kept walking.

xxx

Finn jumped at the sound of soft knocking at the door. He turned to see Rachel standing shyly at the entrance. She slowly approached him nervously chewing on her lower lip.

"I hope it's alright that I came here. Your mom thought it would be alright and your doctor said it might be good for you to see someone who wasn't involved in the… incident."

"You know I'm not crazy right?"

Rachel smiled weakly. "I know that under normal circumstances that you couldn't hurt a fly. Finn…" She got closer and took his hand. "What happened?"

"It was an accident. I keep saying it over and over again. It was-"

"Finn… you're not insane."

"Finally." Finn smiled with relief. "I knew I could count on you to understand."

"But," the smile fell off Finn's face as she continued, "you do have a problem."

Finn pulled his hand from Rachel's. "I don't."

"Have you thought about what you did?"

Finn shot her a look. "That's all I can do."

"Finn- everyone is just trying to help you now." She reached out to take his hand again, but he pulled it out of her reach. "I want to help. And I don't know how." Her eyes welled up. "This isn't something I can sing about. Even though there are a number of songs that might be appropriate for the occasion they are a bit too pessimistic about the final outcome for me to want to sing them. And they tend to be a bit centered around the singer, and if there is any time where I shouldn't be thinking about myself it is now. And I love you Finn, and I don't want to lose you but if you can't understand what you've done and if you refuse to accept the help that people are offering you-"

"I am not stupid. I know what I did was really really bad, but I don't need help. I didn't-"

"Finn, do you really want there to be no reason why you put Kurt in the hospital? Do you really want what happened to be blamed on a temper tantrum?"

"What do you even know about what happened? You weren't there."

"I just know what you said on the phone. That you strangled him, that you thought you killed him. Finn, you have no idea how scared that call made me."

"I am not crazy."

"Then there was no reason for this?"

"Kurt was being stubborn. And he wasn't listening. He just kept pushing and pushing and I was just trying to help him. And he kept talking down to me like I was stupid. He doesn't know what he's doing. And it's obvious. You guys understood. That's why you and the rest of the club listened to me." Rachel gasped a little, realizing that they had all played a part in this.

"Finn, listen to yourself."

"People keep saying that too."

"What if it had been me Finn? Who wasn't listening? I mean people have often commented on how I can be stubborn and headstrong so it isn't exactly outside the realm of possibility that I could have been in the same position as Kurt. For two people who have such a strong rivalry we are remarkably similar. Would it have been okay if you did the same thing to me Finn?"

"No." Finn frowned. "I would never- not to you."

"Why not?"

"Because… that would just be wrong. I could never hurt you. And besides you're tiny. And you're a girl." Finn stopped. "It's not the same at all."

"It could have been Finn. What about Jessie, you knew he was bad for me, but when we started to go out you just stepped aside and let me."

"He's my brother though."

"Please talk to your doctor Finn. For me."

"I talk to him."

"About this and listen to what he has to say. I know from my extensive experience with therapists that-"

"I'm not crazy."

"I know. But that's different from being sick."

Finn stared at his hands for a moment. "Do you know how he is? Nobody will tell me anything."

"I don't. I haven't been able to see him. But I know Mercedes went to visit."

"I just want to know if he's okay. I mean obviously he's not because he's still in here. But I want to know if he's going to be okay."

"I'll ask around." Rachel nodded. "And I'll tell you what I find out. Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow." Finn confirmed with a shy smile.

xxx

"Mercedes, I'm rather disappointed in you."

Mercedes looked down at her feet. "I'm sorry."

Carole's mouth formed a tight line. "I know you all care about Kurt, but he doesn't need you and the rest of glee club harassing him right now."

"I wasn't harassing-"

"I know you want to know what happened. But now isn't the time to be pressing him for details. And sweetheart, it's his job to start deciding when he's going to talk about it."

Mercedes leveled a look at Carole. They didn't notice Blaine rush past them towards the hospital exit. "He'll never say anything."

"I know he doesn't share easily." Carole huffed a humorless laugh. "God how Burt and I found that out. But it isn't your place right now Mercedes to be pushing him."

Mercedes felt ready to cry. "I just want to help."

"I know. And Burt and I really appreciate that. We'll probably need that help soon. Kurt is going to need all the support he can get. But not now." Mercedes bit her lip and nodded slowly. Carole put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll let you know as soon as we do though. "

"Mrs. Hummel." A nurse approached, "Dr. Cooper would like to talk to you and Kurt. She's in Kurt's room right now."

"Thank you."

"I guess I should… go home then." Mercedes said sadly.

Carole nodded distractedly. "But I'll let you know as soon as you can visit." She didn't even wait for Mercedes to start walking away, she quickly went into her step-son's room.

Dr. Cooper smiled at her as Carole sat by Kurt's side to hear whatever the doctor had to say. "The results of Kurt's scans were not what we had hoped for. The damage is permanent. But I think we can let Kurt go home tomorrow."

Carole turned to Kurt to see his reaction to that new bit of news, and she was rewarded with a genuine smile.

"The nurse will be in to go over all the adaptations and changes Kurt will have to make. I can say is that this inability to not feel pain or differentiate pleasure is not the end of the world. It seems strangely horrible, and it's going to be difficult, but with support Kurt, I can assure you you will be able to live a full rich life."

Kurt nodded, still just happy to hear that he would be going home soon.

"Where's Blaine dear?" Carole asked after the doctor left.

Kurt's smile dropped. "I- I told him to leave."

"Why?"

"I was tired." Kurt said lamely. Carole frowned, but didn't see any other choice but to accept it.

"Will he be coming back?"

"Tomorrow." _Hopefully _Kurt mentally added.

Carole squeezed his hand. "Going home tomorrow. Isn't that exciting? Your father is going to be so pleased."

Kurt grinned enthusiastically and they started to discuss all the wonderful things about home. Wearing real clothes and eating real food and getting more than two channels on the television.

Carole left about an hour later at 6. Kurt laid in bed staring at the ceiling, thoughts racing around in his head. Most of them about Blaine. How Blaine had talked to him in the coffee shop the first time they met and how Blaine had opened up a new world to him where he was not alone. How Blaine became his boyfriend. How Blaine helped him at the wedding and how they had danced afterwards. How Blaine sang to him. How Blaine said he loved him. How Blaine has been there for him through this.

How he made Blaine leave.

Kurt scrambled for his phone that was sitting on the bedside table next to him and started typing an apology. And promptly erased it. He started again, but erased it too. He stared at the blank screen, thinking about Blaine and realized that although Blaine had started to say it so freely, he had yet to say the same back.

_I love you._

He hit send.

**Chapter 28: Microfine print is a wonderful thing**

xxx

Burt held the door open for Kurt, "Welcome home kid."

"What do you want for dinner sweetie?"

Kurt gave Carole an odd look. "It's one."

Burt fidgeted a bit. "I'll take your stuff down to the basement. Why don't you go settle in the living room."

Kurt nodded and headed into the living room. He stopped dead in his tracks. "You moved everything."

"Yes well… this gives the room a more open air feel, don't you think?" Carole said with a nervous chuckle, she ushered him into a seat.

It didn't really, Kurt thought, but he knew why she did it. The psychiatrist that the doctor arranged for him to see said that there was a strong possibility that there would be flashbacks when there were things that might possibly remind him of the attack. "…Yeah, it does."

Carole frowned at his hesitant tone. "Should we change it?"

"No. No, this looks good Carole, I approve." Kurt plastered on as sincere a grin as he could manage. "It looks good."

There was a knocking at the door. Carole frowned but headed over to open it. A tall blonde woman, who looked slightly familiar though Carole could not think from what, was standing there.

"Um… hello?"

"Where's Porcelain?"

"Coach Sylvester?" Kurt squeaked from the living room. Sue brushed past Carole and swept into the living room.

"You should know I don't approve of your attempts of your attempts to get out of Cheerios practice. Moving schools, and now this. Effective, but I'm not going to accept your excuses anymore."

"I'm not on Cheerios anymore." Kurt stammered.

Sue raised an eyebrow. "Did you die?" Carole gasped quietly, but Sue and Kurt ignored her.

"No. But-"

"Have I explicitly said you were off the squad?"

"No, but-"

"No on leaves the cheerios unless I kick you off or you die. It's in the contract."

"I don't go to McKinley anymore." Kurt pointed out.

"I know. That was rather tricky but I finally got the provision passed through that students who go to school without their own cheerleading teams can participate in the closest schools that does."

Kurt was stunned momentarily. "Oh… but-"

"I expect you to be at practice on Monday."

"I'm not allowed-"

"Do you think that Sue Sylvester got where she was by listening to doctors' orders?"

Carole stepped in front of the other woman. "Ms. Sylvester-"

"Mrs. Sylvester." Sue corrected.

"Right. Kurt isn't on your squad anymore. You cannot force my child to go to practice."

"I believe I can. Here is the contract he signed when he joined," Sue handed the contract over and a microscope. She pointed to the line where Kurt's signature was. "and here is the clause that says I own his immortal soul." She crossed her arms smugly and smiled. "Microfine-print is a wonderful thing."

"I will not allow you to push my son around. And I think you should leave."

Sue smiled. "I admire your protective instincts. It's important someone is watching out for my key to winning nationals this year, especially since he apparently doesn't watch out for himself."

"He is not going back to your squad."

"Monday?" Kurt asked quietly.

Carole spun around, not hiding the hurt on her face. "Kurt."

"See you then kiddo." Sue replied very smugly.

"Kurt. You remember what the doctor said."

"That I could die if I over exert myself?"

Carole flinched. "Yes."

"Believe me Mrs. Hummel, he's not allowed to die until after nationals. That's also in the clause. Though he's doing a good job at attempting to break that rule." Sue leveled a look at Kurt.

"I though I asked you to leave." Carole snapped.

Sue ignored Carole. She pointed at Kurt. "Remember what happens if you're late." She gave a small nod to Carole and left the house.

Carole looked furious. "Kurt. You are not going. I'm not going to allow it."

"What's going on?" Burt looked confused as he came up the stairs from the basement.

"Nothing." Kurt answered automatically.

Carole looked incredulous. "Nothing?"

"It was nothing."

"Kurt… It's that sort of nothing that ends up with hospital trips and-"

"Carole-"

Carole looked about ready to cry. "No Kurt. You can't be selfish like that anymore."

"I'm not being-"

"When you don't tell us what is going on, when you hide stuff from us that could be putting you in danger… that is being selfish."

"It's not putting me in danger. It's cheerleading practice." Kurt argued.

Burt frowned. "I thought you weren't in Cheerios anymore."

"That witch of a coach is making you go before you're ready. That's putting you in danger."

"It's not like I'm made of glass. And coach takes care of her own. She's not going to let me die. If for nothing else because it will be a lot of paperwork." Kurt attempted for a joke, but the look on Carole's face showed that it fell flat.

"You're not going and that's final."

"Please." Kurt pleaded. "I want to go. Please."

"How many times did the doctor explain it Kurt? Until you learn how to monitor and maintain your temperature you can't risk overexerting yourself. If you start doing all those acrobatics and workouts without knowing how to watch yourself, you're going to overheat and get hyperthermia, and you won't even know it until it's too late. Do you really want to put us through that?"

"What if I just go to watch the routine, so I don't fall behind. And I can find out the songs we'll be doing."

Carole threw her hands up in disbelief. "You're not even on the team Kurt. I don't care what that woman says, you're not on the cheerleading team anymore. You don't have to do what she says."

"Fine." Kurt ground out. "I'm tired. I think I'm going to go take a nap." He quickly headed down to the basement and slammed the door behind him.

Burt sighed, "Carole-"

"Don't take his side Burt. This is for his own good."

"I know. I know it is. And I'm not. But maybe it would be good for Kurt… to get back some structure and routine in his life. I know that being on the Cheerios was one of the best things that happened to him. That Coach is insane, bonkers, to be frank a little terrifying, and some of the stuff she had the kids do was a bit questionable, but Kurt loved it."

"Kurt tried to go on a diet of Splenda and peeled celery sticks for the Cheerios. It's not a healthy place for him to be in, especially now."

"I know what the doctor said about overexerting himself, but don't forget what the doctor said about him needing to be able to manage his own life." Burt sat down heavily in the couch. "Maybe going to practice wouldn't be the best thing for him, but neither is ordering him not to go."

"His coach _ordered_ him to go."

Burt closed his eyes and squeezed the bridge of his nose. Carole sat down beside him.

"You're going to let him go aren't you." It wasn't a question. "I'm just… he's back now, and I am so scared. I am so scared of losing him again."

Burt looked over at her. "I understand. I understand, but he's such an independent kid you know?"

"Isn't that what got us to this point?"

Burt sighed. "It'll be worse if we get to be too much. That'll just encourage him to start hiding things from us again."

Carole sniffed and pulled away from Burt. "I suppose that's true." She stood up quickly. "You should probably let him know he's going to get his way then. I'm going to start dinner." She hurried off to the kitchen. Burt stared at her retreating back, wondering if he chose the right thing.

Xxx

Kurt sat on the edge of his bed staring at the far wall. He knew he was being childish and throwing a temper tantrum. But when Coach Sylvester came swooping in and treated him just the same way as she had treated him before it had felt so good. Like he had said to Carole, he was not glass, and there was only so much overprotectivness and comfort that he could handle.

He just wanted things to go back to normal.

Again he felt the overwhelming hate for Finn rise up. How could he have ever liked that big stupid oaf? And he had to go and ruin everything.

And again there was the rush of guilt. Finn was sick. It wasn't his fault, no matter how much Kurt wanted to blame him it wasn't his fault. Because he was sick. And it just wasn't fair, because Finn got to get away with ruining his life forever. Because he was sick.

It wasn't fair.

**Chapter 29: Making some progress**

It wasn't fair.

Mercedes sat in the kitchen turning a Ben and Jerry's container of Chocolate Fudge Brownie debating whether or not to consume the whole thing. There were definitely a lot of pros, but her conscience, which sounded like Kurt, was being particularly nagging today.

She put the ice cream away.

It wasn't fair.

It hurt so much that Kurt had rejected her. Well, not just her, he rejected the entire glee club. But he rejected her personally.

Deep down she could understand why. But it still stung. What he was blaming her for wasn't exactly her fault was it? How was she supposed to know? It wasn't like he had been open with information.

Kurt had told her first that he was transferring. And that had been hard, but she had tried to understand. He didn't tell her much, but it had seemed like enough and she thought she did until Finn started telling them about what Blaine had been doing, that he was pulling a Jessie, that Kurt was betraying them. How were any of them supposed to know that Finn had been lying to them? He'd made so much sense, and Finn had always seemed to stupid to lie like that. He was Kurt's step-brother, if anyone was going to know about what was going on with Kurt, it would be him right?

So she ignored Kurt's emails and calls. He had the audacity to lie to her, and she wasn't going to stand for what she thought had been a betrayal anymore.

Finn had made so much sense and Kurt had been so vague. She knew Kurt could be incredibly manipulative, and they all knew how dense Finn was. How were they supposed to know?

Sam had objected, sure. But he was Blaine's friend, so it didn't count for much in her eyes. She had even started to think that he might have been a spy too. And if they hadn't needed that 12th member even more after Kurt's abandonment of them, she would have considered trying to get him to leave the club.

She felt angry. Kurt wouldn't tell her why he was in danger. Kurt wouldn't tell her anything that could have been considered personal at all. How were they supposed to be friends if he wouldn't share?

But that wasn't fair either. Of course Kurt wouldn't tell anyone that it was i_Finn/i_ that was threatening him. If for nothing else but to protect his father's and Carole's relationship. She should have known that.

She pulled out the ice cream from the freezer again, took out a spoon, and told her Kurt conscience to go to hell, she needed this.

Xxx

"Hey."

Finn looked up and saw Rachel standing in the doorway shyly. "Hey."

"How are you feeling today?"

"Fine."

Rachel nodded and looked around the room at a loss of what to say and it made Finn uncomfortable. Rachel always had something to say. "How's Kurt?"

"They sent him home today." She tried to smile encouragingly.

"That's… good. That's really good. So he's alright?"

"I don't know. I didn't get a chance to see him. He hasn't talked to anyone. Mercedes tried, but he wasn't feeling well."

"Rach, I'm really sorry."

Rachel looked at him with wide eyes. "What?"

"I've been thinking since I talked to the doctor this morning, and I think I should apologize to you."

"Why me?"

Finn fiddled with his sheets. "Well, I mean I obviously have a lot of people to apologize to. Especially Kurt. And I guess I really don't deserve to have him forgive me. At least not yet. But since you're here… I'll start apologizing to you."

"You haven't done anything to me."

"I scared you. And I think I really upset you."

Rachel slowly walked towards him. "This is really good Finn. This is huge progress."

Finn nodded but didn't look up from his sheets. Rachel sat next to him and wrapped her arms around him. "This is really good."

Finn hugged her back. He hoped this would work to get him out of here soon.

Xxx

"Hey kiddo."

"Hey." Kurt kept facing away from the door so his dad wouldn't see that he'd been crying. "Sorry for getting upset earlier."

"Carole understands. And we talked. I'll drive you to school on Monday."

Kurt turned around at that. "Thank you dad."

Burt bit his lip when he saw Kurt's tearstained face and crossed the room to his son, pulling him into a gentle hug. "Just be careful. I- I don't think I can handle another trip to the hospital. We've had our quota for our lifetime. Alright?"

Kurt nodded. "Alright." He could feel the hug, the comfort that was offered from it, but he wished he could feel the warmth that should have been included in the embrace.

"Carole is right. If you don't tell us things… you might think you're protecting us but we're the parents. You're not the one meant to be protecting us. Let us do our job alright? Anything happens at that practice, do not even think about hiding it from us. Understand?"

Kurt swallowed thickly. "I understand."

"Good."

"Kurt?" Carole called from the top of the stairs. "Blaine is here."

"Send him down." Burt replied. He leveled a look at Kurt. "I'm leaving the door open."

"Dad!" Kurt squeaked.

"Just saying."

"Blaine's been alone in my hospital room with me for days this whole time. And we were fine." Burt raised an eyebrow, making Kurt flush as he remembered the jello incident.

"I'm just letting you know." And with that Burt headed up the stairs, passing Blaine on the way down. He gave Blaine the same look he had given to Kurt as he passed, making the poor boy extremely confused.

"What was that?" Blaine asked, pointing up the stairs. "Why'd he give me that look?"

"He's leaving the door open."

"Oh." Blaine paused as that sunk in. "i_Oh._/i"

"Yeah." Kurt was still blushing.

"Right." Blaine sat next to Kurt on the bed. "So… I got your text. Is it true?"

"Yes." Kurt replied quietly.

"Can I hear you say it?"

"I love you."

Blaine gently touched Kurt's cheek and leaned in pushing his lips against Kurt's softly. Kurt felt a jolt of electricity flow through him and his eyes slid shut as he responded to the kiss. Blaine broke it reluctantly.

"The door is open."

"I don't care." Kurt leaned back in, and Blaine found himself soon not caring either.


	8. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

**A/N:** Just a reminder, I started writing this way back in the beginning of s2. So some things have changed in glee that were important to this story.

Not much happening in this chapter, sorry. The story and I are trying to get to know each other again. But we are back! Enjoy!

_2 Weeks later_

Blaine tapped his foot nervously on the floor and glanced at the clock. Kurt would be coming back to school at 5. It was still only 2:45. He mentally went through the list of tasks that he had assigned himself to prepare for this. Everything was done. He glanced around the room again; he supposed that he could dust the room again. For the third time. It looked like there was a spot there in the corner that he missed.

Picking up the rag he'd been using he went over to the imaginary spot. There was no reason to be nervous. Kurt had been doing fine at home and had been expressing a readiness to come back to school for a while. He was already going to cheerleading for Sylvester twice a week, and participating on a very limited basis. Thus far everything had been going well and everyone had been managing well.

So there was no reason to be nervous.

Except there was. At home both Burt and Carole were watching Kurt like a hawk. They were there always reminding him to check his temperature and making sure he didn't overexert himself. Kurt was still his headstrong self and there had been times over the past couple weeks that Burt or Carole had had to step in and make him stop. Here at school, even if no one was saying it, that responsibility was going to fall on him. What if Kurt didn't listen to him though? Blaine didn't have the authority that Burt or Carole did, and considering the circumstances the last thing Blaine wanted was for Kurt to think that he was trying to control him. Or what if Kurt grew to resent him for trying to help? They had only just started saying that they loved each other. What if something did happen to Kurt? Burt would never forgive him. He would never forgive himself.

"I knew it."

"Kurt?" Blaine wheeled around. "You-you're early."

Kurt shrugged. "I couldn't wait to get back here."

Blaine went up and hugged Kurt closely, burying his nose in his boyfriend's neck. "I missed you so much."

"And I knew that you would be freaking out in here." Kurt could feel the movement of Blaine's lips move against his skin as the other boy smiled, and knew he should have felt the warm puff of breath as his boyfriend laughed. He squeezed a little harder. "I'm so happy to be back."

"You're sure it's not too soon?" Blaine asked, pulling back.

"It's been two weeks since I got out of the hospital and it felt like a year. I can't afford to miss anymore school, and quite frankly I was going out of my mind at home." Kurt adjusted Blaine's tie where it got skewed from the hug. "Plus this way Dad and Carole can start thinking about bringing Finn home."

Blaine frowned. "What?"

Kurt smiled benignly at Blaine; he was hoping that Blaine wouldn't argue with him over this too. "He's been making a lot of progress in therapy, but you that the doctors have said that the only way to really measure his progress is to start bringing him home. Now that I'm here, they can start thinking about starting that stage of his recovery."

"His reco- So you are rushing back here so _Finn_ can recover?"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "No. If there was any rushing to get back here it was so I can spend time with my handsome, sexy boyfriend-" He reached out towards Blaine, but the other boy pushed his hands away. "What is your problem?"

"Yo- I don't have a problem." Blaine huffed moving to the far side of the room.

"You clearly do." Kurt replied crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow. "I'm ready to be back at school. I want to be back at school. With you. Finn eventually being able to come home is a just one small side benefit."

"How is that a benefit?" Blaine felt a bit of irrational anger rise up.

"I need him to get better. Carole gets teary eyed every time she passes his room. Dad gets tense when someone just mentions his name. And I am still so scared of him. And I hate that. If he gets better, he can't scare me anymore and I get that part of my life back. "

"And if he isn't better? Are you going to fall back on old habits to protect everyone else?'

"Blaine. Stop it." Kurt snapped.

"You wouldn't even have to lie about being in pain if he hurts you because you can't feel it." Blaine hissed.

"Get out." Kurt said quietly and evenly but he may as well have shouted it the way it muted everything going on around them.

"Fine."

Blaine was immensely grateful that the library was void of life, meaning he could sulk in peace until dinner.

He'd been there for about an hour when a shadow fell over his desk.

"Mind if I sit here?"

"It's a free country." Blaine snapped, not looking up from his work.

"Bad day?"

Blaine sighed. ""Ye-yeah. Sorry. I didn't mean to be short."

"Genetics." Blaine bit back a small grin.

"Please, feel free to sit down." Blaine looked at the other boy. He was tall, not bad looking. "I don't think we've met. I'm Blaine."

"Sebastian. Just transferred this week. You aren't _the_ Blaine Anderson by any chance?"

Blaine blushed at the look the new kid was giving him, and decided he wouldn't look to closely a the reasons why. "I wouldn't say '_the'_."

Sebastian grinned. "I've already heard the stories. I was wondering when I would finally meet this Dapper Singing God."

"People have probably been exaggerating, a lot."

"Well they certainly haven't been telling the whole story. Nobody mentioned once how sexy you were." Sebastian gave the other boy a suggestive smirk. "A gross oversight, I believe."

"What?" Blaine spluttered.

The smirk fell. "That wasn't too forward was it? I'm still trying to get used to this whole 'Conservative Ohio' mindset."

"I have a boyfriend."

Sebastian shrugged, smirk back in place. "It's not a problem with me, if it isn't for you."

"No I-" Blaine closed his eyes. "I really really care about him, and I don't want to mess it up with him more than I already have."

"Mess it up more?"

"We had a fight. I just- He's just- Fuck. I need to go apologize."

"If things don't work out, I'll see you around." Sebastian held out a piece of paper with his number on it, "and even if it does we should get coffee sometime. Just as friends."

"Yeah, sounds good." Blaine took the paper with a small smile and hurried out of the library.

"I'm sorry."

Kurt blinked in surprise as Blaine burst into his room without warning. "Did you steal Wes's RA key again?"

"I'm sorry Kurt." Blaine crossed the room and knelt in front of where his boyfriend was sitting on the bed. "I've been really stressed out so worried about you. It wasn't fair, what I said. It wasn't fair, and I really didn't have a reason to get angry. So I am so sorry."

"Just because I can't register pain, doesn't mean I can't hurt. "

"What?"

"What you said before I kicked you out. About feeling pain. I hurt all the time Blaine. And I need things to go back to normal as soon as possible, because every minute it isn't it hurts me more than any physical ache could."

"Kurt… I am so scared. Alright? I've been so scared since I found out that you were coming back to Dalton for sure. Because-"

"Because of what happened to me." Kurt said ruefully.

"Yes." Blaine answered truthfully. "Because of what happened. Kurt, you know we were never going to have it easy as two guys together in Ohio. Your injury… it terrifies me-"

"Then perhaps we shouldn't-"

Blaine held out his hand. "Please let me finish. Please."

Kurt nodded mutely, but tears shown in his eyes.

"It terrifies me, because I love you Kurt. All that was running through my head today is 'what would happen if you get hurt?' because I will never forgive myself if something happens to you here. I love you. And while you were at the hospital and at home it was easier –no that's not quite the right way to word that, I wasn't as scared, because your parents were there too and I could split my time being pissed off at your old glee club on your behalf. Here it's just going to be us. You know you're independent and all, but if you ask any of the warblers, I am the mother hen from hell when one of them just gets a cold. You'll hate me."

Kurt shook his head but didn't say anything.

"I don't know what to do. Either way, by protecting you and having you hate me or by giving you space and something terrible happening, I lose you. And I- I can't…" Blaine rested his forehead against Kurt's knees, hoping to hide his own tears as the stress of everything crashed down on him in a torrent of emotion. He felt Kurt's hand come to rest on top of his head.

"Or trying to balance the two on your own is going to stress you out so much you say something horrible to me and drive me away anyway." Blaine felt his heart sink, but the hand slid down the side of his face to tilt it up so they were looking at each other. "I love you Blaine. I want this to work, if you do too."

"I do."

"Then get off the floor, kiss me."

"Kurt-"

"We are going to talk Blaine. About how I am going to manage my condition and how you can help. And we are going to talk about everything else, I promise. But right now I haven't seen you for a week with both of us busy with school and appointments and what not, so welcome me back to Dalton properly and let's celebrate the fact that a) we can now finally close the door to a room we are together in, and b) as you have Wes's RA key, we know it is not going to open suddenly."

Blaine surged upwards covering Kurt's mouth with his. He felt Kurt respond immediately and he pushed Kurt back so he had room to climb up and straddle the other boy. This is what was right, and he could feel some of his stress leaving him. The way Kurt tasted, the way he smelled, this was right. The very back of his mind registered that something was moving on the other side of the door, causing him to pull away. "I think David knows how to pick locks."

"Oh yeah sure!" A voice shouted from the other side of the door. "The _black_ guy is the one who knows how to pick locks."

"But you do." A second voice pointed out.

"Only cause Thad taught me."

Kurt huffed a laugh. "Of course."

"Hey. He got to see you last week. We haven't seen you in a month." David shouted through the door. Kurt motioned for Blaine to open the door.

Most of the Warblers burst in and crowded around the bed.

"We only just figured out you were a few minutes ago when Wes found out his key was missing and we couldn't find Blaine." Thad explained.

"So naturally you'd pick my closed locked door instead of knocking."

Wes nodded with a grin. "Naturally."

"And now that we have effectively ruined your evening plans good sirs, let us make new more inclusive ones that the whole family can enjoy. Starting with dinner." David suggested making his way hopefully towards the door.

Kurt rolled his eyes but allowed the enthusiastic boys to pull him off of his bed and out of the room. He locked gazes with Blaine and they shared a smile. Things will be alright with them, they'll figure it out. And right now, surrounded by his laughing happy classmates, he was glad to be back.


End file.
